X-ray dichroism in polyimide caused by non-resonant scattering

Abstract

Dichroism is one of the most important optical effects in both the visible and the X-ray range. Besides absorption, scattering can also contribute to dichroism. This paper demonstrates that, based on the example of polyimide, materials can show tiny dichroism even far from electronic resonances due to scattering. Although the effect is small, it can lead to a measurable polarization change and might have influence on highly sensitive polarimetric experiments.