Elastooptic Coefficient of Liquids Determined by Ultrasonic Light Diffraction Method

Abstract

The elastooptic coefficients of 26 kinds of readily available liquids have been measured using pulsed ultrasonic light diffraction method. As a reference, the coefficient of water was used with the value of 0.322 after Raman and Venkataraman. Values of the coefficient obtained by the present method are always smaller than the values calculated from the Lorentz-Lorenz formula as the majority of data determined by several authors were so. The corrected Lorentz-Lorenz relation (the Böttcher formula) based upon the rigorous treatment on the cavity field in the dielectric medium has been able to considerably diminish the discrepancy, though the systematic deviation has still remained especially for liquids with the low refractive index.