Relationship between dielectric properties and critical behavior of the electric birefringence in binary liquid mixtures

TY - JOUR

T1 - Relationship between dielectric properties and critical behavior of the electric birefringence in binary liquid mixtures

AU - Rzoska, Sylwester J.

AU - Degiorgio, Vittorio

AU - Giardini, Mario

N1 - © 1994 American Physical Society

PY - 1994/6/1

Y1 - 1994/6/1

N2 - We present experimental results on the critical exponent ψEKE describing the divergence of the Kerr constant of binary liquid mixtures near the critical consolute point. We show that the measured value of ψEKE agrees with the theoretical prediction only if the measurement is performed with a mixture of two liquids presenting a small mismatch in the dielectric constant, and that the measured ψEKE grows as the dielectric constant mismatch increases. Such findings are consistent with a recent model which assumes that the elongation of critical fluctations along the direction of the electric field can become so strong that fluctuations in the direction perpendicular to the electric field may cross over from Ising to mean-field behavior.

AB - We present experimental results on the critical exponent ψEKE describing the divergence of the Kerr constant of binary liquid mixtures near the critical consolute point. We show that the measured value of ψEKE agrees with the theoretical prediction only if the measurement is performed with a mixture of two liquids presenting a small mismatch in the dielectric constant, and that the measured ψEKE grows as the dielectric constant mismatch increases. Such findings are consistent with a recent model which assumes that the elongation of critical fluctations along the direction of the electric field can become so strong that fluctuations in the direction perpendicular to the electric field may cross over from Ising to mean-field behavior.

KW - electric birefringence

KW - Kerr effect

KW - dielectric properties

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevE.49.5234

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevE.49.5234

M3 - Article

SN - 1063-651X

VL - 49

SP - 5234

EP - 5237

JO - Physical Review E

JF - Physical Review E

IS - 6

ER -