Absorbing anisotropic and gyrotropic slab between crossed polarizers in parallel light

When a birefringent slab is rotated between two crossed polarizers, the four maxima and four minima of the transmitted intensity occur, as known, at every π/4 radians. If the slab is also optically active, the maxima and minima are arranged in other patterns that may be grouped according to the number of extrema met in one complete turn of the slab: four or eight. All the possible patterns are classified and each is related to some peculiarity of the complex refractive index of the slab.

Cooperative onset of a different state of water in the presence of macromolecules.

A lumped model for a seismic source

A lumped mechanical model is proposed and solved. This model is dynamically equivalent, in the mean field approximation, to a faulted lithosphere. The transition from the continuous system (modelled according to W. H. Prescott and A. Nur) to the lumped one, has been made by preserving all the relevant features exhibited by the continuous system. In particular the coupling between different components of the stress and strain tensors is suitably taken into account. The dynamics of the lumped system depends on six control parameters fixed by the physical properties of the continuous system. Three of the control parameters are dimensionless and describe: the seismic wave quality factor of the…