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Optical rotation, also known as polarization rotation or circular birefringence, is the rotation of the orientation of the plane of polarization about the optical axis of linearly polarized light as it travels through certain materials. Circular birefringence and circular dichroism are the manifestations of optical activity.
Specific rotation is an intensive property, distinguishing it from the more general phenomenon of optical rotation. As such, the observed rotation (α) of a sample of a compound can be used to quantify the enantiomeric excess of that compound, provided that the specific rotation ([α]) for the enantiopure compound is known.
Subscripts 1 and 2 refer to initial and final optical media respectively. These ratios are sometimes also used, following simply from other definitions of refractive index, wave phase velocity, and the luminal speed equation:
the specific rotation of (S)-2-ethyl-2-methyl succinic acid is found to be dependent on concentration; in what is known as the Horeau effect [3] the relationship between mole based ee and optical rotation based ee can be non-linear i.d. in the succinic acid example the optical activity at 50% ee is lower than expected.
Four weeks before he presented his completed theory of total internal reflection and the rhomb, Fresnel submitted a memoir [30] in which he introduced the needed terms linear polarization, circular polarization, and elliptical polarization, [31] and in which he explained optical rotation as a species of birefringence: linearly-polarized light ...
In all materials the rotation varies with wavelength. The variation is caused by two quite different phenomena. The first accounts in most cases for the majority of the variation in rotation and should not strictly be termed rotatory dispersion. It depends on the fact that optical activity is actually circular birefringence.
Finding the Jones matrix, J(α, β, γ), for an arbitrary rotation involves a three-dimensional rotation matrix. In the following notation α , β and γ are the yaw, pitch, and roll angles (rotation about the z-, y-, and x-axes, with x being the direction of propagation), respectively.
A simple polarimeter to measure this rotation consists of a long tube with flat glass ends, into which the sample is placed. At each end of the tube is a Nicol prism or other polarizer. Light is shone through the tube, and the prism at the other end, attached to an eye-piece, is rotated to arrive at the region of complete brightness or that of ...