Towards a first observation of magneto-electric directional anisotropy and linear birefringence in gasesThis paper was presented at the International Conference on Precision Physics of Simple Atomic Systems, held at École de Physique, les Houches, France, 30 May – 4 June, 2010

In this contribution to PSAS 2010, we report on recent progress on an experiment aimed at measuring small optical directional anisotropies by frequency metrology in a high-finesse ring cavity. We focus on our first experimental goal, the measurement of magneto-electric effects in gases. After a review of the expected effects in our set-up, we present the apparatus and the measurement procedure, showing that we already have the necessary sensitivity to start novel experiments.