The Electro-Optical Kerr Effect in the Atmosphere

Abstract

The magnitude of the electro-optical Kerr effect in the atmosphere is assessed with an eye toward employing it in the measurement of humidity and electric fields. For various conditions, the birefringence of air is computed along with the attendant phase shift for light waves with polarizations parallel and perpendicular to a static electric field. For most cases this phase shift and its variation are so small as to render the proposed measurements unfeasible. This is based on an assumed resolution of 2 ? 10?8 for measured values of phase shift.