Magnetic-field effects on coherent backscattering of light in case of Mie spheres

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Abstract
Magneto-optical Faraday rotation destroys the coherent backscattering enhance- ment of elastically multiple scattered light. In addition, Faraday rotation has been predicted, especially for Mie scattering, to cause a shift of the coherent backscattering cone off the exact backscattering direction in case of circular polarized light, or a twin peak in case of linear polarization (see Lenke R. and Maret G., Eur. Phys. J. B, 17 (2000) 171). In this letter we report the first experimental observations of these predictions. Moreover, we have observed an unexpected transversal asymmetry in the backscattered intensity, i.e. an asymmetric pho- ton flux perpendicular to the external magnetic field and perpendicular to the direction of the incident light.