magnetooptic Kerr effect

magnetooptic Kerr effect

[mag¦nēd·ō¦äp·tik ′kər i‚fekt] (optics) Changes produced in the optical properties of a reflecting surface of a ferromagnetic substance when the substance is magnetized; this applies especially to the elliptical polarization of reflected light, when the ordinary rules of metallic reflection would give only plane polarized light. Also known as Kerr magnetooptical effect.