Measurements of inverse Faraday effect and absorption of circularly polarized laser light in plasmas

Measurements of the inverse Faraday effect and of the absorption of circularly polarized laser light in plasmas are reported. The experiments were performed with a Nd:YAG laser system. For the laser irradiance range studied here, 9 x 10(13)-2.5 x 10(14) W/cm(2), the absorption of circularly polarized light was higher by 14% relative to the absorption of linear polarize-a light. It is suggested that the above increase in the laser absorption is related to the axial magnetic field in the plasma created by the circularly polarized laser light. Axial magnetic fields of tens of kilogauss were measured at irradiances in the range of 10(12)-10(13) W/cm(2) using the Faraday rotation diagnostic.