Abstract

The mercurous halide crystals (Hg₂Cl₂, Hg₂Br₂, and Hg₂I₂) have recently been synthesized for use in acoustooptic devices because of their several unusual and useful properties. The optical activity in these materials is large (at 0.6328 μm, 190 deg/mm for Hg₂Cl₂, 212 deg/mm for Hg₂Br₂, and 232 deg/mm for Hg₂I₂) for crystalline systems and thus must be considered and incorporated in the design of devices fabricated from these materials. These crystals belong to the D_4h crystal class, and the optical activity in such crystal classes is associated with the structural arrangements of the molecules.

© 1987 Optical Society of America