Determination of the polarization plane specific rotation in gyrotropic crystals of the middle category by the spectrophotometric method

A large number of modern functional single crystals of the middle category belong to gyrotropic media. In these crystals, when light propagates along the optical axis, rotation of the plane of its polarization is observed. In this work a spectrophotometric method was used to obtain the dispersion dependences of the rotation angle of the polarization plane. This method is based on measuring the intensity of light passing through the polarizer–crystal–analyzer system, the crystal is a polished plane-parallel plate of a uniaxial gyrotropic crystal cut perpendicular to the optical axis. Measurements were carried out on a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer Cary-5000 in the wavelength range of 200—1200 nm using polarizers — Glan–Taylor prisms. Polished plane-parallel plates of known SiO₂ and α-LiIO₃ crystals were used as samples. The obtained dispersion dependences of the spectral transmission coefficients are oscillating. Discrete values of the specific angles of rotation of the plane of polarization of light are calculated from the extremes on these dependencies. These discrete values can be approximated by the formulas Drude, Chandrasekhar and Vyshina, depending on what determines the nature of the rotational ability of the plane of polarization of light in each particular material. For the studied crystals, dependences of the modified Drude formula of the form 1/ρ = f(λ²) are plotted, these dependences should have a linear character in the case of an ideal crystal. The obtained experimental results correlate well with the available literature data. The advantages of this method are efficiency, the possibility of obtaining dispersion dependences of the specific rotation angle of the polarization plane, the need for a single sample, the possibility of assessing the nature of the rotational ability of specific crystals, the possibility of evaluating the structural perfection of the studied crystals.

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