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

Single-beam polarization interferometry was introduced to measure the Pocke ls coefficients in a Bi12SiO20 single crystal. The linear superposition pri nciple of the induced birefringence and the optical activity was employed i n an analysis of the Pockels effect measurement. The presence of the optica l activity (the linear optical property) in a Bi12SiO20 crystal facilitated the measurement of the Pockels coefficients (the second-order nonlinear op tical property) with a low modulation voltage. The longitudinal electro-opt ic configuration was adopted to determine one of the three Pockels tensor c omponents. 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].