Title: electro-optic effect
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - electro-optic effect
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.08807
Status: current

Definition
Change in the optical properties of a material in response to a change in an external electric field strength.

Notes
1) Changes in the absorption coefficient, color, refractive index, permittivity or optical activity of a material are typical examples of electro-optic effects.
2) Electro-optic is not a synonym for optoelectronic.

Related Term
- optoelectronic: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08846

Source
- PAC, 2022, 94, 15. 'Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 29 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0501)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08807/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08807/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08807/xml

Citation: Citation: 'electro-optic effect' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.08807
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Accessed: 2026-04-18T08:32:54+00:00