Kerr effect caused by an electric current in a weakly ionized gas |
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Authors: | Siegfried Hess |
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Institution: | Institut für Theoretische Physik der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-8520 Erlangen, Fed. Rep. Germany |
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Abstract: | The anisotropy of the velocity distribution caused by an electric current in a fluid leads to a molecular alignment via the non-spherical interaction. This alignment implies a birefringence proportional to the square of the applied electric field just as the ordinary Kerr effect. The kinetic theory of this phenomenon is presented for a lorentzian mixture, viz. a gas of few light charged linear molecules and of many heavy optically isotropic particles. The current-induced contribution to the Kerr effect turns out to be much larger than the contribution which stems from the usually considered orienting influence of the electric field on anisotropic molecules. |
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