Abstract. A review is made of novel attempts to date at measuring the optical Kerr effect in liquids and liquid crystals. In the conventional Kerr effect, an applied electric field induces molecular orientation which is accompanied by birefringence in a fluid composed of anisotropic molecules. In the optical Kerr effect (OKE) the high-frequency electric field of a laser beam is the inducing mechanism. The phenomenon is thus an optically induced optical effect (an optico-optical phenomenon). It has potential as a means of measuring the optical polarizability of molecules which itself is useful for determining molecular bonding structures. In addition, the phenomenon can become the basis of optically activated switching mechanisms currently of interest in optoelectronics and optical computing. This review is a survey of the arrangements used hitherto for the measurement of this novel phenomenon using nanosecond laser pulses. The purpose of the review is to provide a basis for others who wish to measure and ultimately utilize the effect.

Print publication: Issue 5 (14 May 1991)