Polarization-interferometry measurement of the Pockels coefficient in a chiral Bi12SiO20 single crystal

Single-beam polarization interferometry was introduced to measure the Pockels coefficients in a Bi12SiO20 single crystal. The linear superposition principle of the induced birefringence and the optical activity was employed in an analysis of the Pockels effect measurement. The presence of the optical activity (the linear optical property) in a Bi12SiO20 crystal facilitated the measurement of the Pockels coefficients (the second-order nonlinear optical property) with a low modulation voltage. The longitudinal electro-optic configuration was adopted to determine one of the three Pockels tensor components. The magnitudes of r(41) at the visible wavelengths were measured and found to be in the range of 3.5 to 5.0 pm/V. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(00)00707-4].