Kerr effect
Noun
Meaning
Kerr effect
(physics) Birefringence of a material induced by an electric field due to partial orientation of its molecules.
Related terms
Examples
However, there is also the non-linear Kerr effect : the refractive index of a material at a given frequency depends on the light's amplitude or strength.
If the pulse has just the right shape, the Kerr effect will exactly cancel the dispersion effect, and the pulse's shape will not change over time: a soliton.
Only certain crystalline solids show the Pockels effect, as it requires lack of inversion symmetry ** Kerr effect (or quadratic electro-optic effect, QEO effect): change in the refractive index proportional to the square of the electric field.
The refractive index of materials can also be nonlinear, as occurs with the Kerr effect when high intensity light leads to a refractive index proportional to the intensity of the incident light.
The results of reflection from a magneto-optic material are known as the magneto-optic Kerr effect (not to be confused with the nonlinear Kerr effect ).