Crystal optics of D-mannitol, C₆H₁₄O₆: crystal growth, structure, basic physical properties, birefringence, optical activity, Faraday effect, electro-optic effects and model calculations

Large single crystals of optical quality were grown from aqueous solutions. The structure [Berman, Jeffrey and Rosenstein, Acta Crystallogr. B 24 (1968) 442] was reinvestigated and refined in space group P 2 1 2 1 2 1 to an R ( F )-value of 0.0276. Thermal expansion, refractive indices, dielectric constants, optical activity, Faraday effect and electro-optic effects were experimentally determined. Simple model calculations based on structural information and empirical data are compared with the observed anisotropy of the experimental results. Non-linear optical properties were estimated from a dipole-dipole model which uses polarizability volumes of the atoms [Devarajan and Glazer, Acta Crystallogr. A 42 (1986) 560] and in which electron-cloud shifting by a simulated electrical field is introduced.