Optical wave propagation in active media: gyrotropic–gyrochiral media

A comprehensive study of electromagnetic wave propagation is conducted in linear, homogeneous, and lossless biuniaxial media that are optically active and placed in a constant magnetic field. The dispersion equation is derived, and the coupled effects of the optical activity and Faraday effect are discussed. These effects include the inequality of the refractive indices in opposite directions of propagation and the conceptual possibility of trirefringence. Clear manifestations of these effects occur when the direction of propagation is parallel to that of the constant magnetic induction field. In such a case, closed-form solutions for the refractive indices, the field vectors, and the wave polarizations are derived.