A novel method for measuring continuous dispersion spectrum of electro-optic coefficients of nonlinear materials.

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, a novel and simple method for measuring continuous dispersion spectrum of unclamped linear electro-optic (EO) coefficient using a white-light interferometry. This method detects phase changes of the interference patterns with and without an applied electric voltage, and allows a simultaneous measurement of wavelength and polarization dependent EO coefficients of birefringent materials. Both of the unclamped EO coefficients, r(13) (T) and r(33) (T), of a congruent LiNbO(3) (LN) crystal have been measured simultaneously with the method, and their continuous dispersion curves have been also obtained.