A plate of quartz, 5.0 mm thick

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Optics & Photonics · Polarisation and anisotropic media · Polarisation and anisotropic media

What an Instrument Can See, Ch Anisotropic media: the dielectric tensor and the index ellipsoid

Problem

A plate of quartz, 5.0 mm thick, is cut so that the optic axis lies at

45^\circ

to the faces. Quartz is positive uniaxial with

n_o = 1.5442

and

n_e = 1.5533

at 589 nm. A plane wave enters normally to the faces, so its wave vector inside the crystal makes

45^\circ

with the optic axis. ((a)) Find the magnitude of the walk-off angle

\rho_w

between

\mathbf{k}

and the Poynting vector

\mathbf{S}

of the extraordinary wave. ((b)) Find the lateral displacement between the ordinary and extraordinary beams on leaving the plate.