Photoelastic and Electro-Optic Properties of Crystals Photoelastic and Electro-Optic Properties of Crystals s. T. Narasimhamurty Osmania University Hyderabad, India PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Narasimhamurty, T. S. Photoelastic and electro'optic properties of crystals. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Crystal optics. 2. Photoelasticity. I. Title. QD941.N37 548'.9 79-409 ISBN 978-1-4757-0027-5 ISBN 978-1-4757-0025-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-0025-1 © 1981 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfIlming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher Acknowledgments The author hereby expresses his appreciation and thanks to the authors of papers and to the editors and publishers who so readily granted him their permission to include in this book the following material: Figures 4.9 W. G. Mayer and Michigan State University. From Ref. [1534]. 4. lOA S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart. From L. Bergmann [110]. 4.10B M. A. Breazeale and E. A. Hiedemann, and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [190]. 4.IOC W. G. Mayer and E. A. Hiedemann, and Acta Crysta/logr. (Denmark). From Ref. [790]. 4.12 V. Chandrasekharan and Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. From Ref. [240]. 5.6 H. E. Pettersen and Michigan State University. From Ref. [922]. 5.8 K. Vedam, E. D. D. Schmidt, and W. C. Schneider, and Plenum Publishing Corp. From Ref. [1301]. 5.9- Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. From Ref. [842]. 5.11 5.12- M. Ziauddin and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [844]. 5.14 5.15 K. Veerabhadra Rao and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [1303]. 5.16 E. S. Jog and J. Indian Inst. of Science. From Ref. [586]. 5.17 G. Jeelani and Osmania University. From Ref. [847]. 5.21 G. Robertson and Institute of Physics, Bristol and London (U.K.). From Ref. [1057]. 5.22 G. N. Ramachandran and V. Chandrasekharan, and Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. From Ref. [998]. 5.23 H. F. Gates and E. A. Hiedemann, and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [413]. 5.24(a). Myron P. Hagelberg and Michigan State University. From Ref. [464]. (b) 5.24(c) Osmania University. From Ref. [843]. 5.25 K. Veerabhadra Rao and Osmania University. From Ref. [1306]. 5.26 H. E. Pettersen and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [924]. 5.27 G. Alphonse and R.e.A. Review. From Ref. [32]. 5.28 T. M. Smith and A. Korpel, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., New York. From Ref. [1152]. 5.29, R. W. Dixon and M.e. Cohen, and American Institute of Physics. From 5.30 Ref. [294]. 5.31 N. F. Borrelli and R. A. Miller, and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [176]. 5.32, R. Adler and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 5.33 New York. From Ref. [13]. 6.1 R. Srinivasan and Zeitschrift Jur Physik (West Germany). From Ref. [1175]. 6.2, A. Rahman and Osmania University. From Ref. [986]. 6.3 , ,i Acknowledgments 6.4 V. G. Krishna Murty and Osmania University. From Ref. [681]. 6.6 6.7 R. Ethirajan and Osmania University. From Ref. [330]. 6.8 A. Rahman and K. S. Iyengar, and Acta Crystallogr. (Denmark). From Ref. [988]. 6.9 A. Rahman and Osmania University. From Ref. [986]. 8.13 American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [1419]. 8.14 R. Adhav and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [10]. 8.15 American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [1417]. 8.16. S. Namba and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [838]. 8.17 American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [1417]. Tables 5.8 H. E. Pettersen and American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [925]. 5.10 V. Chandrasekharan and J. Indian Inst. Science. From Ref. [241]. 6.1 H. E. Pettersen and Michigan State University. From Ref. [922]. 6.3- V. G. Krishna Murty and Osmania University. From Ref. [681]. 6.5 6.6- A. Rahman and Osmania University. From Ref. [986]. 6.8 8.4, American Institute of Physics. From Ref. [1042]. 8.5 Text pp. 212- J. A. Mandarino and University of Michigan. From Ref. [765]. 213 Foreword This comprehensive treatise reviews, for the first time, all the essential work over the past 160 years on the photoelastic and the closely related linear and quadratic electro-optic effects in isotropic and crystalline mate rials. Emphasis is placed on the phenomenal growth of the subject during the past decade and a half with the advent of the laser, with the use of high-frequency acousto-optic and electro-optic techniques, and with the discovery of new piezoelectric materials, all of which have offered a feedback to the wide interest in these two areas of solid-state physics. The first of these subjects, the photoelastic effect, was discovered by Sir David Brewster in 1815. He first found the effect in gels and subsequently found it in glasses and crystals. While the effect remained of academic interest for nearly a hundred years, it became of practical value when Coker and Filon applied it to measuring stresses in machine parts. With one photograph and subsequent analysis, the stress in any planar model can be determined. By taking sections of a three-dimensional model, complete three-dimensional stresses can be found. Hence this effect is widely applied in industry. The photoelastic effect was analyzed for crystals by Pockels, who also discovered the electro-optic effect, i.e., the production of birefringence of light on the application of an electric field. Pockels produced a phenom enological theory for both of these effects for all the crystal classes. The electro-optic effect remained of purely theoretical interest for a number of years until it became desirable to produce very short light pulses. The Kerr effect in liquids had been used for this purpose for many years. This is a quadratic effect which produces a birefringence proportional to the square of the voltage. Pockels' linear electro-optic effect requires less voltage and can give a shorter light pulse than can the Kerr effect and is being considered as a modulator for obtaining very short light pulses. Hence both the photo elastic and electro-optic effects have graduated from the academic stage to the broad-application stage as acousto-optic and electro-optic modulators and deflectors of light. The present book has the most complete description of these two vii v;;; Foreword effects known to the writer. It covers all the significant contributions made by the several scientists from the day of discovery up to 1976. Considerable material in the text has been collected from a score of recent Ph.D. theses that are not available to the general reader. A number of papers are by the author, T. S. Narasimhamurty. The book also includes descriptions of ultrasonic methods for the study of the photoelastic behavior of glasses and crystals. These methods in the hands of Mueller have fully brought out the potentialities for the elasto-optic studies of amorphous and crystalline solids. The book contains a chapter on the piezoelectric effect in crystals since a knowledge of this effect is an essential prerequisite to understanding Pockels' linear electro optic effect. A chapter is also given on the atomistic theory of photo elasticity of cubic crystals that is based mostly on Mueller's work. Hence the book can be recommended as the most complete discussion of the two effects and related subjects known to the writer. Columbia University Warren P. Mason Preface This book presents an attempt to collect between the covers of one volume some of the material, widely scattered in the literature for over 160 years, on the photoelastic and electro-optic effects in crystals. The stimulus to write this book resulted from the personal contacts that the author has had with solid-state physicists, industrial physicists, mineralogists, en gineers, and graduate students. The book is intended for all such persons with varying backgrounds. Because of this broad spectrum of readers with naturally widely differing goals, some of the more elementary but funda mental ideas have been dealt with in a little more detail. The specialist, of course, can skip such topics without losing the general trend of the contents; for his benefit, the references to the existing literature on the topics are given as exhaustively as possible. The subject of photoelasticity of crystals deals with the artificial bi refringence in crystals produced by mechanical stress, and it forms an important aspect of solid-state physics. The photoelastic behavior of crystals is a fourth-rank tensor property, relating the stress tensor or strain tensor to the change in the optical-index ellipsoid. The fundamental discovery of photoelastic birefringence in glasses and crystals was made by Sir David Brewster in 1815. This phenomenon was later observed in other solids, both amorphous and crystalline, by various investigators, notably Neumann, Mach, Wertheim, and Kerr. But it was not until 1889 that the fundamental difference in the photoelastic behavior of amorphous and crystalline solids was observed by Pockels, who evolved the phenomenological theory of photoelasticity in crystals. By developing suitable techniques, he studied the photoelastic behavior of some crystals, both cubic and noncubic, in support of his phenomenological theory. The discovery of photoelasticity made in 1815 remained just a topic of academic interest for nearly a century until it was successfully applied to structural engineering early in this century (1902) by Coker. Subsequently the interest in this subject has shifted to technical problems, and today it is the most powerful and indispensable tool in solving intricate problems in structural engineering. ix x Pre/ace After the systematic investigations by Pockels (1880-J906) there seem to have been very few contributions to this branch of crystal physics until the 1930s, when Bergmann and Fues and also Hiedemann and Hoesch success fully applied ultrasonic methods for studies on the elasto-optic behavior of glasses. Mueller's theoretical paper (1938), based on the results of Pockels (1880-1906), Bergmann and Fues (1936), and Hiedemann and Hoesch (1936) and dealing with the elasto-optic behavior of glasses and cubic crystals, has fully brought out the potentialities of ultrasonic methods for these studies. This may be considered yet another landmark in experimental techniques to study the photoelastic behavior of crystalline and amorphous solids. Pockels' scheme for the photoelastic constants of the 32 point groups has been revised by Bhagavantam (1942), who observed from group theoretical considerations certain discrepancies in Pockels' scheme of describing the photoelastic behavior of the various classes of crystals. Some of his findings have already been confirmed experimentally, and others are awaiting such confirmation. Almost all the experimental work done until about 1950 was confined to glasses and cubic crystals, and that too mostly for one wavelength oflight radiation. The then existing methods of studying stress birefringence could not be employed for a sufficiently accurate measurement of the photo elastic dispersion in cubic and noncubic crystals and its temperature depen dence; new techniques were developed to this end in subsequent years. The photoelastic behavior of crystals plays a significant role in the Brillouin scattering of light, and the development of the laser has served as a feedback to the wide interest evinced in this area during the last 15 years. Other interesting and closely related properties include the linear electro-optic effect (Pockels effect) and the quadratic electro-optic effect (Kerr effect) in crystals. The Pockels effect is a third-rank tensor property that can be exhibited only by noncentrosymmetric crystals, whereas the Kerr effect is a fourth-rank tensor property and is a universal effect in the sense that it can be exhibited by all crystals, both centro symmetric and noncentrosymmetric. Although the phenomenon of photoelasticity in plastics has rightly received its due attention in the hands of structural engineers, the photo elastic behavior of crystals, which was put on a sound phenomenological basis by Pockels as early as the 1880s, does not seem to have attained, until recently, the importance that it richly deserves. The fate of Pockels' linear electro-optic effect was similar, notwithstanding the fact that it was well established by Pockels as early as 1895. Billing's contribution in 1947 demonstrating the potentialities of ADP and KDP crystals for light modula- Preface xi tion and as optical shutters has opened up a new field in technology, and this has spurred some more extensive investigations of the linear electro optic effect in crystals. However, it is only with the advent of the laser in the early 1960s that there has been a phenomenal growth of activity in these two areas of crystal physics, namely photoelastic and electro-optic effects, as a result of their applications in industry. For example, the develop ment of the laser and high-frequency acoustic techniques, along with the discovery of new piezoelectric materials with high coupling factors, has made it possible to apply the acousto-optic phenomenon to devices such as light deflectors, light modulators, and signal processors. This, in turn, has demanded a relentless search for acousto-optic materials suitable for practical use. Similarly, the Pockels effect has now almost completely replaced the hitherto indispensable quadratic electro-optic effect in polar liquids, and has found many interesting and useful applications in science and technology, such as high-voltage measurements, optical range finders, sound recording on cine films, color television, lasers, and optical elements of computer systems. Today we find that several research laboratories attached to various industries are deeply involved in the problems of light modulators and light deflectors based on acousto-optic and electro-optic effects in crystals. Coker and Filon (1931) pointed out in the preface to their Treatise on Photoelasticity that: "Photoelasticity has also its value for the pure physicist, and it provides an additional means of exploring the interaction of molecules and atoms with radiation, a means to which little attention has hitherto been paid, and which should not be neglected, as it may throw much light upon conditions of matter in the solid state." It is only in the recent past that these macrosCDpic properties of crystals have been receiving the attention of solid-state physicists. A large number of papers have been published on the several aspects of photoelasticity and electro-optics of crystals during the past 160 years, and yet there has been no attempt to present in one volume all the essential information contained therein. The above circumstances have prompted the author to write the present book on the photoelastic and the closely related linear and quadratic electro-optic effects in crystals. Much of the information in Chapters 1, 3, and 4 forms a necessary background for both photoelastic and electro optic eff~cts in crystals. Two parallel notations, namely Schonflies and International, are used throughout the book; this is necessary as long as books and journals employing the older Schonflies notation remain in use.