Cotton–Mouton effect

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In physical optics, the Cotton–Mouton effect is the birefringence in a liquid in the presence of a constant transverse magnetic field. It is a similar but stronger effect than the Voigt effect (in which the medium is a gas). Its electric analog is the Kerr effect.[1]

It was discovered in 1905 by Aimé Cotton and Henri Mouton, working in collaboration and publishing in Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences.[2][3]

When a linearly polarized wave propagates perpendicularly to a magnetic field (e.g. in a magnetized plasma), it can become elliptically polarized. Because a linearly polarized wave is some combination of in-phase X and O modes, and because X and O waves propagate with different phase velocities, there is elliptization of the emerging beam. As the waves propagate, the phase difference (δ) between EX and EO increases.

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References

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  1. ^ Eric W. Weisstein. "Cotton-Mouton Effect -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics". Wolfram Research, Inc. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  2. ^ Cotton, Aimé; Mouton, Henri (1905-07-31). "Sur le phénomène de Majorana". Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences. 141: 317–319. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
  3. ^ Cotton, Aimé; Mouton, Henri (1905-08-07). "Sur la biréfringence magnétique. Nouveaux liquides actifs". Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences. 141: 349–351. Retrieved 2022-11-18.