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Optical Kerr effect in biopolymer solutions
Author(s) -
Coles H. J.,
Jennings B. R.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.1975.360141212
Subject(s) - polarizability , birefringence , electric field , chemistry , kerr effect , biopolymer , laser , amplitude , field (mathematics) , optics , relaxation (psychology) , molecular physics , physics , polymer , organic chemistry , molecule , quantum mechanics , psychology , social psychology , mathematics , nonlinear system , pure mathematics
Abstract The electric field in a single mode, YAG laser beam has been used to induce orientational birefringence in solutions of tobacco rattle virus, DNA, heparin, and hyaluronic acid. Using this laser in its “fixed‐ Q ” mode, laser pulses were generated which persisted for up to 200 μsec in which the effective electric field vector rose to 5 kV cm −1 . The birefringence amplitudes so produced had a quadratic dependence on the effective field strength and thus obeyed Kerr's law. From the birefringence decay rates, relaxation times were determined which, by comparison with the birefringence induced by pulsed static electric fields revealed the biopolymer orientational origins of the effects. This indicated how these experiments can lead to the evaluation of particle geometry, the electronic contribution to electrical polarizabilities, and the optical polarizability of biopolymers in solution.