One reason for the name IFE is that the amplitude of the magnetization is proportional to the same Verdet coefficient that governs the Faraday effect.
With the proper use of the complex form for the electric fields this equation shows that circularly polarized light with the frequency
should induce a static magnetization along the wave vector
The vector product of left- and right-handed polarization waves should induce magnetization of opposite signs.
The pulsed laser developed by Maiman in 1960 facilitated the entire field of non-linear optics for which Bloembergen was awarded the Nobel prize in 1981and which enabled the first experimental confirmation of the Inverse Faraday Experiment by Pershan and students in1965.