Vector polarization

Figure Bl.3.6. The configuration of tire unit polarization vectors e, C2, and in the laboratory Cartesian basis as found in the ASTERISK teclurique.

Since the electric field is a polar vector, it acts to break the inversion synnnetry and gives rise to dipole-allowed sources of nonlinear polarization in the bulk of a centrosymmetric medium. Assuming that tire DC field, is sufficiently weak to be treated in a leading-order perturbation expansion, the response may be written as... 

The second term on the right-hand side, a component oscillating at frequency 2co, represents the second harmonic of the incident beam. This component of the polarization vector can radiate light at the frequency 2co. Observation of the second harmonic generation was demonstrated in the early 1960s using mby lasers (59). 

Since niobates and tantalates belong to the octahedral ferroelectric family, fluorine-oxygen substitution has a particular importance in managing ferroelectric properties. Thus, the variation in the Curie temperature of such compounds with the fluorine-oxygen substitution rate depends strongly on the crystalline network, the ferroelectric type and the mutual orientation of the spontaneous polarization vector, metal displacement direction and covalent bond orientation [47]. Hence, complex tantalum and niobium fluoride compounds seem to have potential also as new materials for modem electronic and optical applications. 

Fig. 9.21 NFS spectra of the paramagnetic picket-fence porphyrin complex [ Fe(CH3COO) (TPpivP)] obtained at 3.3 K in a field of 6.0 T applied (a) perpendicular to both the synchrotron beam and the polarization vector of the radiation and (b) perpendicular to the synchrotron beam but parallel to the polarization vector of the radiation. The solid lines are simulations with the SYNFOS program using 5 = 2 and parameters described in the text. (Taken from [13])...

Using normalization properties of the polarization vectors one obtains [83, 89] ... 

The techniques of u.SR and p-LCR are based on the fact that parity is violated in weak interactions. Consequently, when a positive muon is created from stationary pion decay its spin is directed opposite to its momentum. This makes it possible to form a beam of low energy (4 MeV) positive muons with nearly 100% spin polarization at high intensity particle accelerators such as TRIUMF in Canada, the PSI in Switzerland, LAMPF and BNL in the USA, KEK in Japan, and RAL in England. Furthermore the direction of position emission from muon decay is positively correlated with the muon spin polarization direction at the time of decay. This allows the time evolution of the muon spin polarization vector in a sample to be monitored with a sensitivity unparalleled in conventional magnetic resonance. For example, only about 101 7 muon decay events are necessary to obtain a reasonable signal. Another important point is that //.SR is conventionally done such that only one muon is in the sample at a time, and for p,LCR, even with the highest available incident muon rates, the 2.2 fis mean lifetime of the muon implies that only a few muons are present at a given time. Consequently, muonium centers are inherently isolated from one another. 

Fig. 1. Schematic for /zSR and fiLCR experiments. For pSR the muon spin polarization vector starts off in the x direction (open arrow). It then precesses about an effective field (the vector sum of the external field and the internal hyperfine field), which is normally approximately the z direction. The muons are detected in the M counter, and positrons from muon decay are detected in the L or R counters. For pLCR, the muon spin polarization is initially along the external field or t axis (solid arrow). The positron rates in the F and B counters are measured as a function of external field. A sharp decrease in the asymmetry of the F and B counting rates signifies a level crossing.

Relation (3.1.25) for the integral intensity of the /th spectral line for s- and p-polarized radiation is conveniently expressed in terms of polarization vectors (3.3.3) ... 

The polarization vectors vanish in free space, so that in the absence of charge and matter D = e0E, H = —B and the Maxwell equations are ... 

As with polarization, the orientation of spin is represented by state vectors. Just like ix and jy which serve as base vectors to decompose polarization vectors such as the diagonal vector considered above, a spin state like Sy can be represented by a vector s+, which is a linear combination of two base vectors s+ and s. This decomposition could be formulated, by analogy as... 

Since the spin operator commutes with the momentum operator, it is possible to speak of states of definite momentum p and spin component /x. The components of the polarization vector may be chosen in such a way that e = XP- The two possible polarizations correspond to only two values of the component of spin angular momentum y,. The third value is excluded by the condition of tranversality. If the z-axis is directed along p, then x0 s excluded. The two vectors Xi and X2> corresponding to circular polarization are equivalent, respectively to Xi and X-i- Thus, the value17 of the spin component y = 1 corresponds to right circular polarization, while /z = — 1 corresponds to left circular polarization. 

Since P must remain normal to z and n, the polarization vector forms a helix, where P is everywhere normal to the helix axis. While locally a macroscopic dipole is present, globally this polarization averages to zero due to the presence of the SmC helix. Such a structure is sometimes termed a helical antiferroelectric. But, even with a helix of infinite pitch (i.e., no helix), which can happen in the SmC phase, bulk samples of SmC material still are not ferroelectric. A ferroelectric material must possess at least two degenerate states, or orientations of the polarization, which exist in distinct free-energy wells, and which can be interconverted by application of an electric field. In the case of a bulk SmC material with infinite pitch, all orientations of the director on the tilt cone are degenerate. In this case the polarization would simply line up parallel to an applied field oriented along any axis in the smectic layer plane, with no wells or barriers (and no hysteresis) associated with the reorientation of the polarization. While interesting, such behavior is not that of a true ferroelectric. 

In order to describe second-order nonlinear optical effects, it is not sufficient to treat (> and x<2) as a scalar quantity. Instead the second-order polarizability and susceptibility must be treated as a third-rank tensors 3p and Xp with 27 components and the dipole moment, polarization, and electric field as vectors. As such, the relations between the dipole moment (polarization) vector and the electric field vector can be defined as ... 

The nonvanishing components of the tensors y a >--eem and ya >-mee can be determined by applying the symmetry elements of the medium to the respective tensors. However, in order to do so, one must take into account that there is a fundamental difference between the electric field vector and the magnetic field vector. The first is a polar vector whereas the latter is an axial vector. A polar vector transforms as the position vector for all spatial transformations. On the other hand, an axial vector transforms as the position vector for rotations, but transforms opposite to the position vector for reflections and inversions.9 Hence, electric quantities and magnetic quantities transform similarly under rotations, but differently under reflections and inversions. As a consequence, the nonvanishing tensor components of x(2),eem and can be different... 

The other technique utilizes the different surface sensitivity for s-and p-polarized light - the former has its polarization vector perpendicular, the latter parallel to the plane of incidence. Due to the different... 

We discuss in some detail the so called p-in p-out configuration, in which a />-polarized laser beam (with its polarization vector perpendicular to the interface) is used, and the signal with p-polarization is investigated. On flat metal-solution interfaces, there are three sources that give rise to frequency doubling, and the observed signal is caused... 

Under the following conditions (i) the polarization vector of the probe light is perpendicular to the applied electric field, (ii) the molecular orientation in solid... 

Fig. 11.5 Schematic comparison of (a) sudden and (b) adiabatic inversion of the z-component of the polarization vector. In the sudden case a n-pulse is applied while in the adiabatic case a frequency sweep is shown. The time evolution of the z-polarization as a function of the pulse duration...

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