Pockels Effect
The Pockels effect (after Friedrich Carl Alwin Pockels who studied the effect in 1893), or Pockels electro-optic effect, produces birefringence in an optical medium induced by a constant or varying electric field. It is distinguished from the Kerr effect by the fact that the birefringence is proportional to the electric field, whereas in the Kerr effect it is quadratic to the field. The Pockels effect occurs only in crystals that lack inversion symmetry, such as lithium niobate or gallium arsenide and in other noncentrosymmetric media such as electric-field poled polymers or glasses.
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Some articles on pockels effect:
... Pockels cells are used in a variety of scientific and technical applications A Pockels cell, combined with a polarizer, can be used for a variety of applications ... When the medium has become saturated by energy, the Pockels cell is switched, and the intracavity light is allowed to exit ... Pockels cells can be used for quantum key distribution by polarizing photons ...
... An electro-optic effect is a change in the optical properties of a material in response to an electric field that varies slowly compared with the frequency of ... Electroabsorption general change of the absorption constants Franz-Keldysh effect change in the absorption shown in some bulk semiconductors Quantum-confined Stark effect change in the absorption in some ... Only certain crystalline solids show the Pockels effect, as it requires lack of inversion symmetry Kerr effect (or quadratic electro-optic effect, QEO ...
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