Faraday effect in composites

We study the Faraday effect in a binary composite consisting of a dielectric matrix with metallic inclusions. We first use the replica trick together with a variational method in order to compute the effective permittivity tensor in the quasistatic limit of this composite in a static magnetic field. In order to find scaling exponents near the percolation threshold p(c), we use a high contrast or low-frequency expansion combined with scaling. The results of the two methods are in agreement, and predict that near p(c) land below, that is, in the dielectric region), the Faraday effect is greatly enhanced. [S0163-1 829(98)01644-0].