Probing the Magnetic Field of Light at Optical Frequencies

Abstract

Measuring Magnetic Light Compared to its electric component, the coupling between the magnetic field component of light and matter is usually extremely weak. With no effective way to measure it, we are effectively blind to light's magnetic component. Burresi et al. (p. 550 , published online 1 October; see the Perspective by Giessen and Vogelgesang ) coupled a metamaterial split-ring resonator to the tip of a scanning probe to measure the magnetic field vector of light at optical frequencies. The ability to measure the magnetic component of light should prove useful for the nanoscale characterization of optical waveguides and other optical devices.