About Kerr`s fringes formation

Abstract

the Kerr effect is widely used to study the characteristics of transparent media and the processes occurring in them, along with a variety of optical methods of experimental investigation, in which an isotropic substance placed in an electric field acquires the property of a uniaxial crystal
with an optical axis directed along the applied field. As a result, birefringence occurs and a fringe pattern is formed at the exit from the Kerr cell, which is very similar to the interference pattern.
These stripes are lines of the equal phase shift between ordinary and extraordinary rays. However, another explanation of the reason for their occurrence is possible. The article considers two options for explaining the formation of Kerr bands such as from the point of view of polarization and interference. The conditions for the occurrence of both types of bands are considered. It is shown that kerrograms can be converted into interferograms in bands of infinite width by simply inverting the resulting pattern. The article considers features of the implementation of experimental methods of
classical and holographic interferometry. From a practical point of view, they are quite complex and costly. Therefore, it is concluded that for optically active media, in several cases, the experimental methods for obtaining interferograms can be replaced by a simpler electro-optical method, and well-developed methods for processing interferograms can be used for processing kerrograms.