Analysis of the quadratic retardation induced by the Pockels, Kerr, and inverse piezoelectric effects in an X-cut Y-propagation LiNbO3

Abstract

In our previous work, we measured the Pockels coefficient r51 of LiNbO3 crystal using two different methods. In one method, quadratic retardation was measured by neglecting the Kerr and inverse piezoelectric effects. In the other method, linear retardation was obtained without being affected by the Kerr effect. From the analysis of the results of these measurements by considering the Pockels, Kerr, and inverse piezoelectric effects on the retardation of the LiNbO3 crystal, the Kerr coefficient, which was previously unknown, was derived as g31 = +0.188. The r51 obtained from the quadratic retardation showed that the influence of the Kerr effect on the measurement of r51 was approximately 0.4%. These results also indicate that the ratio of the Kerr coefficients g31/g11 can be approximated using the third power of the ordinary index of refraction divided by the extraordinary index of refraction.