Laser/Magnetic Field Question

[Tim71]

Would anything happen to the beam of a 150mw 405nm laser if it is pointed into the hole of a doughnut-shaped coil that is producing a magnetic field of about 900 Gauss? Would the beam be affected, and if so, how?

Thanks in advance,

Tim

 

[Addonex]

I have passed a laser directly over some dangerously powerful Neodymium Iron Boron magnets (another hobby ) and try as I might wasn't able to get any effect out of them when observing the dot carefully at a considerable distance. I assume you would need to get into the laboratory grade super conductor materials with machinery the size of your car to get any noticeable effect if at all out of a beam of photons.

Note: I'm not a physicist here so I could be wrong about them being influenced at all by magnetism, I was curious as well since beams of electrons are so easy to manipulate with magnetic fields as seen in cathode ray tubes, however photons are a whole different kind of beast. Wave-particle duality and quantum physics and all that fun stuff

 

[dnar]

As photons do not carry a charge you will not see any change even with very large magnetic fields. Only warped space/time will effect the path (curved).

There are spectra changes due to strong electric fields. Google Stark Effect, Zeeman Effect and Paschen-Bach Effect.

 

[Bluefan]

Those effects are all splitting energy levels of atoms, so it would only affect the light source. Things like the Pockels effect, Kerr effect of Faraday effect would change a medium that light is traveling through. In vacuum the magnetic field won't do a thing, and al the mentioned effects are (if present at all) not possible to achieve in air.

 

[Limecat]

Nothing would happen, OP.
If anything happens, it's from the magnetic field affecting the medium that the laser is passing through.