Measurement of quadratic electrogyration effect in castor oil

This work presents a detailed analysis of electrogyration measurement in liquids with the usage of an optical polarimetric technique. Theoretical analysis of the optical response to an applied electric field is illustrated by experimental data for castor oil which exhibits natural optical activity, quadratic electro-optic effect and quadratic electrogyration effect. Moreover, the experimental data show that interaction of the oil with a pair of flat electrodes induces a significant dichroism and natural linear birefringence. The combination of these effects occurring at the same time complicates the procedure of measurements. It has been found that a single measurement is insufficient to separate the contribution of the electrogyration effect, but it is possible on the basis of several measurements performed with various orientations of the polarizer and the analyser. The obtained average values of the quadratic electrogyration coefficient β13 in castor oil at room temperature are from −0.92×10−22 to −1.44×10−22m2V−2 depending on the origin of the oil. Although this study is focused on measurements in castor oil, the presented analysis is much more general.