Spatial distribution of piezoinduced change in the optical pathlength in lithium niobate crystals

For the first time, the “indicative” surfaces of the constants of the piezooptic effect and their stereographic projections have been constructed with due regard for crystal elasticity for lithium niobate crystals described by the symmetry class 3m. The comparative analysis of these surfaces and the corresponding surfaces of the true piezooptic effect has been performed.     

Relaxation of piezobirefringence in triglycine sulfate crystals

The effect of photoelastic relaxation is investigated using triglycine sulfate ferroelectric crystals as an example. The optical and deformation contributions to the photoelastic relaxation are described, and their percentage in the combined effect is determined. Consideration is given to the temperature dependences of the relaxation amplitudes of the path difference and birefringence, which are induced by mechanical stress.     

Spatial anisotropy of linear electro-optic effect in crystal materials: II. Indicative surfaces as efficient tool for electro-optic coupling optimization in LiNbO3

The electro-optic (EO) properties of pure and MgO-doped LiNbO₃ crystals are characterized by indicative surfaces (IS) describing the spatial anisotropy of the longitudinal and transverse linear EO effects. By analyzing the IS and their stereographic projections, we have determined the geometries with maximum EO coupling. The maximum magnitudes of the linear EO effect are revealed in the longitudinal and transverse geometries along the directions that substantially deviate from the principal crystallographic axes of both crystals. Spatial analysis of the IS thus yields a set of the optimized sample geometries recommended for designers who develop EO modulators or deflectors. Just by switching from the standard cell geometry to the optimized cell geometry, as determined in the present work, one may improve almost three times the modulation efficiency of EO devices based on lithium niobate crystals. This results in a corresponding reduction of their driving voltages being evidently of great practical importance for many applications.     

Piezo-optic surfaces of lithium niobate crystals

A method of construction of the spatial distribution of the piezo-optic effect in crystals is proposed. A particular case of this method is the known technique of construction of indicator surfaces of the piezo-optic effect. The essence of the proposed method consists in determining the difference in the radius vectors of the optical indicatrix perturbed by stress and the free optical indicatrix. It is shown that this difference in the radius vectors is mathematically identical to the law of transformation of the piezo-optic tensor during the rotation of the coordinate system.     

Two-fold interferometric measurements of piezo-optic constants: application to β-BaB2O4 crystals

We present the interferometric technique which allows to measure piezooptical and photoelastic characteristics of crystal materials of any symmetry. The offered two-fold interferometric method enables to determine all independent non-zero piezooptic and photoelastic constants by measuring pressure induced changes of optical path. As advantage to known acoustooptical techniques this method allows to measure both the absolute magnitude and sign of photoelastic constants. In general case the determination of 36 components of piezooptic tensor needs to carry out 57 measurements on 16 samples. The corresponding relationships are derived. As an example we apply here the interferometric technique to measure the piezooptic and photoelastic constants in trigonal β-BaB₂O₄ crystals.     

Static photoelasticity of gallium phosphide crystals

The piezo-optic effect (POE) in cubic GaP crystals (symmetry class [`4]\bar 43m) is studied in detail by interferometry. The relations for determining the absolute piezo-optic coefficients (POCs) π _im or their combinations on a sample of X/45° cut at all allowable geometries of the experiment are recorded. The determination of a specific coefficient π _im at different experimental geometries on samples of right cuts and a X/45° cut made it possible to find the π _im values with a high accuracy and reliability.     

Anisotropy of the electro-optic effect in magnesium-doped LiNbO3 crystals

Specific features of constructing indicatory surfaces of the electro-optic effect (EOE) are described. The generalized case for the symmetry class 3m and all three possible indicatory surfaces under orthogonal experimental conditions, when the directions of light propagation and electric field are orthogonal, is considered. The EOE surfaces are constructed for magnesium-doped lithium niobate crystals. The specific features of anisotropy of these surfaces are discussed and their extreme values and corresponding angular coordinates are found. To construct the indicatory surfaces, all absolute coefficients of the linear electro-optic effect are determined by the interferometric method. The difference in the electro-optic coefficients of pure and magnesiumdoped crystals does not exceed 10%. An advantage of doped crystals is their high durability to high-power laser radiation.

     

The oxidation of binary mixtures by the intermittent illumination method

Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry -     

Spatial anisotropy of linear electro-optic effect in crystal materials: I—Experimental determination of electro-optic tensor in LiNbO3 by means of interferometric technique

The paper presents a technique suitable for the determination of linear electro-optic effect (LEOE) tensor components in crystal materials of any symmetry. The method is based on the Michelson interferometer, where the sample being studied is set into one of its arms to measure the electro-induced changes of the optical path. We describe in detail the sample geometries that are needed to determine a complete set of the LEOE tensor components and derive the corresponding equations. The experimental technique has been tested and verified on lithium niobate crystals as well as applied to MgO-doped LiNbO₃ crystals to study their electro-optic properties. The developed method can be useful for optical engineering, which deals with new materials being used in design or production of devices, such as, e.g., modulators or deflectors.