Abstract

So-called polarimetric methods are based on measurements of the intensity of light emerging from a modulator composed of a “sandwich” of investigated crystal placed between polarizer and analyzer. The polarimetric technique is known for its high accuracy in determining absolute values of electro-optic coefficients; however, the method is considered unable to find their signs. In this paper, we propose an examination of changes in the modulated signal phase that result from a controlled shift through the transmission characteristic of the modulator. We show that analysis of the changes allows one to obtain the sign of the coefficients. The sensitivity of the method is examined in measurements of quadratic electro-optic coefficients. It is found that the technique may be easily applied to crystals for which relatively low values of the coefficients, i.e., of the order of magnitude ${10}^{-20}{\mathrm{m}}^2/{\mathrm{V}}^2$, are observed. Configurations where the light beam is sent along the optical axis and perpendicularly to the axis in a uniaxial crystal are considered. Examples of measurements of the quadratic electro-optic coefficients $g_{1111}-g_{1122}$ in KDP and $n_e^3{g}_{3333}-n_o^3{g}_{1133}$ in DKDP are presented.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

Magnitude and nature of the quadratic electro-optic effect in potassium dihydrogen phosphate and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate crystals

Mark J. Gunning, Roger E. Raab, and Włodimierz Kucharczyk
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 18(8) 1092-1098 (2001)

Determination of relative signs of electro-optic and piezoelectric coefficients by measuring optical phase shifts caused by an applied electric field

Kuniharu Takizawa and Masakatsu Okada
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 2(2) 289-293 (1985)

Analysis of accuracy of measurement of quadratic electro-optic coefficients in uniaxial crystals: a case study of KDP

M. Izdebski, W. Kucharczyk, and R. E. Raab
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 19(7) 1417-1421 (2002)

Systematic approach for finding configurations for measuring quadratic electro-optic coefficients in noncentrosymmetric crystals

Marek Izdebski and Włodzimierz Kucharczyk
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 25(2) 149-152 (2008)

Accurate interferometric method for the measurement of electro-optic coefficients: application to a single β-barium borate crystal

P. Ney, A. Maillard, M. D. Fontana, and K. Polgár
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 17(7) 1158-1165 (2000)