Investigation of the Kerr effect on polarised light

A constructed Kerr cell with brass electrodes and liquid nitrobenzene was used for studying the Kerr effect on polarised light. Laser light was plane polarised and passed through an energised Kerr cell. The plane polarised light after travelling a path length equal to the cell electrode length in a birefringent medium, suffered optical retardance before passing through an analyser which then transmitted light of certain intensity to a photodiode. Data used were generated from experiments and theoretical considerations using Kerr’s law and Malus’ law. With crossed Polaroids, the Kerr cell behaved as an electro-optic shutter and the maximum light intensity transmitted rose steadily with increased phase difference to about 0.82. With parallel Polaroids, the maximum light intensity transmitted was higher and found to be 0.89 at zero phase difference. This value indicates a large phase delay and decreased to a non-zero value. At maximum electric field intensity, a ‘climbing’ of the nitrobenzene on the Kerr cell walls and electrodes was observed with more nitrobenzene attracted to the anode. The effect suspected to be of electrostatic origin may have been driven by the predominant ions in the nitrobenzene. Furthermore, the higher level of the nitrobenzene meniscus at the anode probably suggests that while the cathode injected carriers of negative charge into the liquid the injection of carriers from the anode was weaker. For better results, attention should be given to Polaroid quality, the purity of the liquid nitrobenzene and the length of the electrodes used.

Extreme Events in Lasers with Modulation of the Field Polarization

We develop a theoretical model for a unidirectional ring laser consisting of an isotropic active medium inside a cavity containing a birefringent Kerr cell. We analyze the dynamical behavior of the system as we modulate the voltage applied to the Kerr cell. We discuss the bifurcation diagram and we study the regions of control parameter space where it becomes possible to observe and predict extreme events.

Influcing Factor Research of Kerr Effect

This paper presents a model of Kerr effect for the influencing factors research. The influencing factors proposed are Kerr cell voltage, charging duration time and electrode material. The experimental results show that refractive index of transformer oil will rise when Kerr cell voltage become larger; There is a period of 15 minutes called ‘polarization time’ after the beginning of the experiment and electrode material indeed has an obvious effect on the transformer oil.