Optically induced static magnetization near optical resonances in molecular systems

The static magnetization induced in molecular systems in second order by circularly polarized light shows anomalous dispersion inside the optical resonance regions. The general analytical expressions describing the effect are presented, and numerical calculations have been made for three-level systems. Dispersion curves of diamagnetic as well as paramagnetic contributions to the inverse Faraday effect are shown. Complete quantum mechanical expressions for the nonlinear polarizabilities involved in the effect are presented, and their properties and orders of magnitude discussed.