Polarimetric imaging of crystals

Classical crystal optics has recently undergone a renaissance as developments in optical microscopy and polarimetry, enabled in part by sensitive imaging CCD cameras and personal computers, now permit the analytical separation of various optical effects that are otherwise convolved in polarized light micrographs. In this tutorial review, we review recent developments in the measurement of the principal crystallo-optical quantities including linear birefringence, linear dichroism, circular birefringence, and circular dichroism, as well as new effects in crystal optics encountered in unusual mixed crystals. The new microscopies and polarimetries are applied to problems of crystallographic twinning, phase transformations, stress birefringence, symmetry reduction, and the design of new crystalline materials.