Nuclear spin optical rotation and Faraday effect in gaseous and liquid water

Nuclear spin optical rotation (NSOR) of linearly polarized light, due to the nuclear spins through the Faraday effect, provides a novel probe of molecular structure and could pave the way to optical detection of nuclear magnetization. We determine computationally the effects of the liquid medium on NSOR and the Verdet constant of Faraday rotation (arising from an external magnetic field) in water, using the recently developed theory applied on a first-principles molecular dynamics trajectory. The gas-to-liquid shifts of the relevant antisymmetric polarizability and, hence, NSOR magnitude are found to be - 14% and - 29% for H-1 and O-17 nuclei, respectively. On the other hand, medium effects both enhance the local electric field in water and, via bulk magnetization, the local magnetic field. Together these two effects partially cancel the solvation influence on the single-molecular property. We find a good agreement for the hydrogen NSOR with a recent pioneering experiment on H2O(l). (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4711957]