Evaluation of the photoelastic constants of ionic crystals

A theoretical model, for evaluating the photoelastic constants of ionic crystals, has been developed by considering the short range repulsive interactions between nearest and next nearest neighbours, the van der Waals potentials and three body interactions as well as taking into account the electronic polarizabilities of cations and anions. The model has been applied to calculate the photoelastic constants of RbC1, RbBr and RbI crystals. The results obtained in the present study are in good agreement with experimental data.