birefringence

1. (physics) The splitting of a ray of light into two parallel rays of perpendicular polarization by passage through an optically anisotropic medium; the property of a material that light passing through it is so split.Examples: "In figure 6, the birefringence, δ, for 2H, 4H, 6H, and 15R is plotted as a function of wavelength."; "This means that, in contrast to the relaxation after steady shear flow, one has actually to expect that there will be a significant difference in the speeds of relaxation of birefringence and recoverable shear like the difference suggested by the courses of curves I and II of Fig.4.1."; "In this paper, two-dimensional thermal and mechanical stress-induced birefringence measurements in laser-diode-pumped solid-state laser materials using the new polarimeter are described."Synonyms: birefraction, birefractivity, double refractioncountableuncountable