Summary: Appl. Phys. B 70, 849­852 (2000) / Digital Object Identifier (DOI) 10.1007/s003400000221
Applied Physics B
Lasers
and Optics
High-sensitivity measurements of the Kerr constant in gases using
a Fabry­P´erot-based ellipsometer
E. Inbar, A. Arie
Dept. of Electrical Engineering ­ Physical Electronics, Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel
Received: 6 September 1999/Revised version: 16 October 1999/Published online: 8 March 2000 ­ © Springer-Verlag 2000
Abstract. The dc-Kerr constant was measured with high sen-
sitivity in several gases, using a novel ellipsometer, which is
based on a high-finesse Fabry­P´erot interferometer. An ef-
fective interaction length of 5.26 km was achieved by using
a Fabry­P´erot interferometer with intracavity electrodes,
yielding a single-pass sensitivity of 10 nanoradian. The
dc-Kerr constants of CO2, N2, and O2 were determined with
a high accuracy and with good agreement with previous
measurements.
PACS: 42.65; 42.80
Electric-field-induced birefringence (dc-Kerr effect) can be

Source: Arie, Ady - Department of Electrical Engineering-Physical Electronics, Tel Aviv University

Collections: Engineering