Behavior of optical rotation in electrorheological fluid

The behavior of optical rotation in electrorheological (ER) fluid was investigated. According to the theory of transmission of light, a theoretical expression for the rotation angle Ψ of ER fluids as a function of ξ (dependence on ER fluid and electrical intensity) and θ (the angle between the orientation of vibration of linearly polarized light and electric field) is given. And the rotation angles of the ER fluid with different concentration c and electrical field strength E were measured. The experimental results show that under the same electrical field strength E, the rotation angle Ψ increased with c and Ψ increases with electrical field when c is constant. At the same time, Ψ varies with the θ for the same concentration and electrical field strength. The measured results are in good agreement with the theoretical expression.