Electric-field effects on a droplet microemulsion

Abstract

The Kerr effect in a model three-component microemulsion has been investigated using an improved experimental setup. These new measurements, which cover a wide range of droplet volume fractions, $0%<\ensuremath{\varphi}<30%$, suggest that the Kerr coefficient $K$ scales as ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{2}$ throughout the entire range of concentrations. This scaling behavior suggests that Kerr effect in the microemulsion is intrinsically a many-body problem rather than a single-body problem as previously suggested. It remains an intriguing possibility that the microemulsion forms clusters comprising many droplets even in dilute concentrations.