Measurement of the elastic-optic effect of crystal using PM fiber optic low coherence interferometry

Abstract

The elasticooptic effect of crystal is analyzed by the method of index ellipsoid. The relationship between the stress along the optical axis of trigonal crystallographic system and the refractive index is then established. Considering the optical anisotropic property of crystal and very small change of refractive index with the stress, the optic low coherence interferometry technique can be extended to measure the refractive index of anisotropic material, beause of its high spatial resolving power. Moreover, all polarization-maintaining fiber Michelson interferometer for measuring the elasticooptic coefficient of crystal has been sucessfully constructed. Unlike a common fiber low coherence interferometer, all the components are connected via polarization-maintaining fibers. Besides, an improved method using low coherence interferometry and Michelson interferometer to measure group refractive index is introduced, using grating displacement sensor and all polarization-maintaining fiber to greatly increase the displacement precision of scanning mirror. The refractive index change of LiNbO3 crystal under different external force has been measured and the elasticooptic coefficient is determined. It is shown that the elasticooptic coefficients P₁₃ and P₃₃ of LiNbO₃ crystal are 0.110 and 0.089, respectively. The precision reaches 0.001.