Eur. Phys. J. D (2014) 68: 33
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2013-40445-2

Regular Article

A single-oscillator quantum model for magnetochiral birefringence

¹ Université Grenoble 1/CNRS, LPMMC UMR 5493, BP 166, 38042 Grenoble, France
² LNCMI, UPR 3228 CNRS/INSA/UJF Grenoble 1/UPS, Toulouse & Grenoble, France

^a e-mail: donaire@lkb.upmc.fr

Received: 25 July 2013
Received in final form: 26 October 2013
Published online: 20 February 2014

Abstract

We derive an analytical expression for the magnetochiral birefringence of a dilute diamagnetic chiral molecular medium subjet to a constant magnetic field. We use the single-oscillator model of Condon [Rev. Mod. Phys. 9, 432 (1937)] and Condon et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 5, 753 (1937)] to describe the optical properties of the individual molecules. The result is a function of the refractive index and the rotatory power. This result is compared to experimental data.