ISSN:
1089-7623
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
Notes:
An experimental technique was developed for studying the optical Kerr effect induced by a cw Ar+ laser with 500 mW output. A Pockels cell was used for modulating the pump laser so that the polarization changed periodically between the vertical and horizontal plane. The dielectric anisotropy thus induced in a sample liquid was probed in the ellipsometry with a He–Ne laser. The system was applied to nitrobenzene and p-n-hexyl p′-cyanobiphenyl (6CB), a nematogen in the isotropic phase. The observed birefringence showed a linear dependence on the pump laser intensity and the gradient yielded the Kerr constant: B=5.75×10−14 V−2 m at 30 °C in nitrobenzene and B=6.72×10−12(T−T*)−1 V−2 m in 6CB, T* being the virtual transition temperature to the nematic phase. This technique can be used for investigating the relaxation of molecular orientation in frequency domain. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1149027
