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Abstract
The Kerr effect has been measured over ranges of temperature and pressure for gaseous argon, krypton, xenon, methane, tetrafluoromethane, 2,2-dimethylpropane and sulphur hexafluoride. Measurements have been analysed in terms of a virial expansion for the molar Kerr constant, and values are reported for the first and second Kerr virial coefficients (A K and B K). Tentative results for the third Kerr virial coefficient (C K) have also been obtained for methane, tetrafluoromethane, 2,2-dimethylpropane and sulphur hexafluoride.
The temperature independent A K is directly proportional to the second electric dipole hyperpolarizability, while B K and C K depend on the polarizability of interacting pairs and triplets of molecules. Our measurements of B K are compared with those calculated from the DID model (see preceding paper [4]), and a correlation between the ratio B K expt/B K DID and molecular interaction parameters is demonstrated. The results are also compared with measurements of depolarized light scattering in compressed gases.