Birefringence dispersion in oriented polystyrene

The dispersion of birefringence in oriented amorphous polymers is discussed. It is shown that for polystyrene, the birefringence can be considered as the product of an orientation function and a function of the wavelength of the light. This leads to a method for expressing the birefringence dispersion as a function that is characteristic of the polymer. This function is determined for polystyrene, and from it the birefringence at infinite wavelength is found to be 11% lower than that measured with the mercury green line (5461 A.).