Quantum field theory of optical birefringence phenomena II. Birefringence induced by static and optical electric fields

The scattering matrix technique in conjunction with the Stokes’s operator formalism for characterizing the polarization of a light beam which was developed in a previous paper (Atkins & Barron 1968) is applied to the description of the optical birefringence induced in fluid materials by electrical fields. The fields considered are both static (the Kerr effect), arise from a second, intense light beam (the optical Kerr effect) or from the measuring beam itself. The last phenomenon causes the polarization ellipse to rotate and affects the angle of rotation induced by optically active molecules.