Light-induced dichroism and birefringence in dye-doped glycerin

¹ Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics - Budapest, Hungary
² Institute for Applied Physics, Darmstadt University of Technology Darmstadt, Germany

Received: 8 January 2003
Accepted: 7 April 2003

Abstract

In this paper cw laser-induced dichroism and birefringence measurements are reported in azo-dye–doped glycerin at temperatures below -40 . The presence of the dye, in combination with the slow rotational mobility of the molecules, leads to a huge enhancement of the optical Kerr effect, compared to what is observed in pure transparent liquids. In the experiments, significant optical anisotropy could be generated at pump intensities as low as 10. Evidence is presented that the birefringence signal originates in a large part from the ordering of the host molecules. The orientational order of the solvent molecules is attributed to the guest-host interaction between the azo dye and the glycerin molecules.