Tuning the optical isotropic point of mixed crystals of ethylenediammonium sulfate/selenate

Abstract

In anisotropic crystals, optical isotropic points are wavelengths where linear birefringence disappears because the refractive indices for both eigenmodes are accidentally equivalent. Here, the optical isotropic point of ethylenediammonium selenate (EDSe) is tuned by generating a solid-solution series of EDSe doped with sulfate. Mueller matrix polarimetry and single-crystal X-ray diffraction are used to correlate changes in linear birefringence with the crystal composition of EDS x Se1−x . A scheme for using mixed crystals with isotropic points as tunable birefringent optical bandpass filters is proposed and their performance is modeled.