Cotton–Mouton effect
E446002
The Cotton–Mouton effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon in which a transverse magnetic field induces birefringence in an otherwise isotropic medium, causing the polarization of transmitted light to change.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Cotton–Mouton constant | 1 |
| Cotton–Mouton effect canonical | 1 |
| Voigt effect | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4485701 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Cotton–Mouton effect Context triple: [Faraday effect, relatedTo, Cotton–Mouton effect]
-
A.
Faraday effect
The Faraday effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon in which the polarization plane of light is rotated as it passes through a material under the influence of a magnetic field aligned with the direction of propagation.
-
B.
Kapitza–Dirac effect
The Kapitza–Dirac effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a beam of particles, such as electrons or atoms, is diffracted by a standing wave of light, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of matter.
-
C.
Szilard–Chalmers effect
The Szilard–Chalmers effect is a nuclear chemistry phenomenon in which atoms that undergo neutron capture and become radioactive are chemically separated from their original, non-activated atoms due to recoil-induced disruption of their chemical bonds.
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D.
Shubnikov–de Haas effect
The Shubnikov–de Haas effect is a quantum oscillatory phenomenon in the electrical resistance of conductors and semiconductors subjected to strong magnetic fields at low temperatures, used to probe their electronic structure and Fermi surface.
-
E.
Zeeman effect
The Zeeman effect is the splitting of atomic or molecular spectral lines into multiple components when subjected to an external magnetic field, revealing information about energy levels and magnetic moments.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Cotton–Mouton effect Target entity description: The Cotton–Mouton effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon in which a transverse magnetic field induces birefringence in an otherwise isotropic medium, causing the polarization of transmitted light to change.
-
A.
Faraday effect
The Faraday effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon in which the polarization plane of light is rotated as it passes through a material under the influence of a magnetic field aligned with the direction of propagation.
-
B.
Kapitza–Dirac effect
The Kapitza–Dirac effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a beam of particles, such as electrons or atoms, is diffracted by a standing wave of light, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of matter.
-
C.
Szilard–Chalmers effect
The Szilard–Chalmers effect is a nuclear chemistry phenomenon in which atoms that undergo neutron capture and become radioactive are chemically separated from their original, non-activated atoms due to recoil-induced disruption of their chemical bonds.
-
D.
Shubnikov–de Haas effect
The Shubnikov–de Haas effect is a quantum oscillatory phenomenon in the electrical resistance of conductors and semiconductors subjected to strong magnetic fields at low temperatures, used to probe their electronic structure and Fermi surface.
-
E.
Zeeman effect
The Zeeman effect is the splitting of atomic or molecular spectral lines into multiple components when subjected to an external magnetic field, revealing information about energy levels and magnetic moments.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
magneto-optical effect
ⓘ
physical phenomenon ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | magnetic birefringence in transverse field ⓘ |
| category |
magnetically induced birefringence
ⓘ
nonlinear optics phenomenon ⓘ |
| cause | change in polarization state of transmitted light ⓘ |
| characterizedBy |
Cotton–Mouton constant
ⓘ
linked to:
Cotton–Mouton effect
|
| contrastWith | Faraday effect which involves longitudinal magnetic field ⓘ |
| dependsOn |
applied magnetic field
ⓘ
properties of the medium ⓘ square of magnetic field strength ⓘ wavelength of light ⓘ |
| describes | induced birefringence in an initially isotropic medium ⓘ |
| discoveredInField | early 20th century optics ⓘ |
| field |
electromagnetism
ⓘ
magneto-optics ⓘ optics ⓘ |
| governingQuantity | magnetic susceptibility anisotropy of the medium ⓘ |
| magneticFieldOrientation | transverse to direction of light propagation ⓘ |
| mathematicalForm | birefringence proportional to Cotton–Mouton constant times square of magnetic field ⓘ |
| measurementTechnique |
interferometry
ⓘ
polarimetry ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Aimé Cotton
ⓘ
Henri Mouton ⓘ |
| occursIn |
gases
ⓘ
liquids ⓘ otherwise isotropic media ⓘ some transparent solids ⓘ |
| opticalConsequence |
conversion of linear polarization to elliptical polarization
ⓘ
difference in refractive indices for orthogonal polarizations ⓘ phase retardation between polarization components ⓘ rotation of polarization ellipse axes ⓘ |
| polarizationGeometry | birefringence axis perpendicular to magnetic field direction in isotropic media ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Faraday effect
ⓘ
Kerr effect ⓘ Voigt effect ⓘ
linked to:
Cotton–Mouton effect
|
| relevantIn |
high magnetic field experiments
ⓘ
plasma diagnostics ⓘ precision tests of quantum electrodynamics in vacuum birefringence experiments ⓘ |
| requires |
linearly polarized incident light
ⓘ
non-absorbing or weakly absorbing medium ⓘ |
| symmetryProperty | even in magnetic field direction ⓘ |
| typicalMagnitude | very small birefringence requiring sensitive detection ⓘ |
| usedFor |
characterization of gases and liquids
ⓘ
measurement of magnetic fields ⓘ study of molecular anisotropy ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Cotton–Mouton effect Description of subject: The Cotton–Mouton effect is a magneto-optical phenomenon in which a transverse magnetic field induces birefringence in an otherwise isotropic medium, causing the polarization of transmitted light to change.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Cotton–Mouton effect
linked to: Cotton–Mouton effect