Many important applications of polarized light involve materials that display optical activity. A
material is said to be optically active if it rotates the plane of polarization of any light transmitted through
the material. The angle through which the light is rotated by a specific material depends on the length of
the path through the material and on concentration if the material is in solution. One optically active
material is a solution of the common sugar dextrose. However rotations of polarized light are not only
limited to optically active materials, but also including some optically inactive materials exposed to high
magnetic field. In magnetized medium the refractive indices for right- and left-handed circularly
polarized light are different. This effect manifests itself in a rotation of the plane of polarization of linearly
polarized light. This observable fact is called magnetooptic effect.