Effect of nonreciprocity in the state of polarization of an electromagnetic wave traveling in an inhomogeneously anisotropic crystal

Nonreciprocity in the state of polarization in an inhomogeneously anisotrop ic crystal is discovered, and the main characteristics of this effect are s tudied. The effect consists in the appearance of asymmetry of components of the Stokes vector for radiation traveling in forward and backward directio ns. It is shown to be caused by the presence of a nonlinear gradient of mec hanical stress. The effect is theoretically analyzed using the model of a s ample whose inhomogeneity is caused by the presence of sections with linear and circular birefringence placed in a series. The theoretical conclusions qualitatively agree with experimental results obtained for a silicon singl e crystal using the polarization modulation technique. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauk/ Interperiodica".