Eric Courtens
Physical Review Letters
An expression is derived for the optical-field-induced birefringence due to molecular reorientations in cubic plastic crystals. The effect is described by a nonlinear susceptibility tensor shown to be proportional to a tensorial correlation function. For most cubic point groups this correlation function has only two independent components. A decomposition into irreducible tensorial sets leads to the two physically meaningful quantities. One is labeled the tensor strength. It measures the short-range angular correlation of molecular pairs. It is a susceptibility that increases as this range increases, i.e., as the plastic-solid phase transition is approached. The second quantity is labeled the tensor anisotropy. It measures the long-range cubic anisotropy of the molecular orientations. It is related to an orientational order parameter of the plastic-liquid transition. © 1974 The American Physical Society.
Eric Courtens
Physical Review Letters
Eric Courtens, François Huard, et al.
Physical Review Letters
Eric Courtens
Physical Review Letters
Eric Courtens, René Vacher, et al.
Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena