| Abstract: | A general formalism is set up to apply the variation-perturbation method to the quantum theory of non-linear optical effects, in particular to the electric and magnetic birefringence (Kerr and Cotton-Mouton effects). The quantities describing these effects are obtained from the wave function Ψ of the ground state of the unperturbed molecule and the different vectors and tensors which are determined by a variation method. With this method an approximate computation of the Kerr and Cotton-Mouton constants of some simple molecules has been made. |
