Open AccessX-ray Birefringence in highly Anisotropic Materials
Author(s) -
Stephen P. Collins,
Igor P. Dolbnya,
Benjamin A. Palmer,
Gregory R. EdwardsGau,
Anabel Morte-Ródenas,
Benson M. Kariuki,
Gin Keat Lim,
Kenneth David Maclean Harris,
Yves Joly
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/425/13/132015
Subject(s) - birefringence , anisotropy , polarization (electrochemistry) , refractive index , optics , perpendicular , materials science , dichroism , linear polarization , linear dichroism , polarization rotator , condensed matter physics , physics , circular dichroism , crystallography , chemistry , mathematics , geometry , laser
International audienceBirefringence is the dependence of a material's refractive index on the direction of linear polarization. It induces a phase shift between two perpendicular polarization directions and thus couples linear and circular polarization states. Birefringence in x-ray absorption is as common as linear dichroism but is rarely discussed in the literature. We outline a mathematical framework for describing experiments on birefringence and illustrate the importance of the phenomenon with three examples