Index of refraction, optical activity and electro-optic coefficient of bismuth titanium oxide (Bi12TiO20)

12 TiO₂₀. The first two can be measured by simple and classical methods, but the coexistence of optical activity, electrogyration, field-induced linear birefringence, and piezoelectric and photoelastic effects in photorefractive materials such as Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ complicate the measurement of the electro-optic coefficient. For normal incidence of linearly polarized light we derive analytic expressions for the polarization of light that has passed through the crystal. The ellipticity of the polarization is a function of the electric-field-induced linear birefringence and hence of the electro-optic coefficient of the crystal. Therefore measurement of the ellipticity as a function of an electric field externally applied to the crystal leads to an electro-optic coefficient r₄₁ of 5.3±0.1 pm/V. Received: 22 December 1996/Revised version: 21 March 1997