A Simple Optical Procedure for Characterizing Uniaxial Media

Abstract

Angle-dependent reflectivities, at the interface between an isotropic medium and a uniaxial crystal, have been analysed for the situation where the index of the isotropic medium lies between the ordinary and extraordinary indices of the uniaxial crystal. The analytic results reveal simple relationships between the parameters specifying the optical tensor of the uniaxial medium and the angles of incidence for which a suitable combination of the input and output polarization angles gives zero reflected signal. As a consequence, by using a prism together with a matching fluid of the same index and determining these incidence angles, a procedure for complete optical characterization of a single crystal of calcite with one polished face has been demonstrated. The experimental results are in good agreement with the analytic predictions.