Abstract

This paper presents a combined theoretical and experimental study of polarization modulation of laser light in an aqueous suspension of shaped PTFE microparticles that are maintained in an ac electric field. Both steady-state and transient behavior are examined, with theory and experiment being in excellent agreement. This work complements previous studies of the influence of an electric field on the optical characteristics of shaped microparticle suspensions that focused on electric field-induced birefringence. Furthermore, these studies examine the transient and steady-state properties of PTFE in both the weak (electric) field, i.e., the diffusive regime, as well as the strong field, drift regime yielding a complete picture of the suspension’s dynamics and optical characteristics. As a result of the large microparticle anisotropic susceptibilities of PTFE, the different polarization states can be readily achieved with relatively modest electric field strengths of the order of several hundred volts/cm for volume fractions on the order of 1%.

© 1991 Optical Society of America