The Cotton-Mouton effect is an optical phenomenon observed in certain materials that exhibit optical activity, particularly in chiral substances. It refers to the change in the polarization of light when it passes through a magnetic field in the presence of a birefringent medium, which is a material that has different refractive indices for light polarized in different directions. When linearly polarized light passes through a chiral medium and an external magnetic field is applied, the plane of polarization of the light rotates.
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