A new polarimeter for dilute aqueous solutions: The improved null-method compensation for the optical rotatory power by the faraday effect of a sample

We propose a new polarimcter for the null-method measurement that utilizes the Faraday effect of a sample, i.e., dilute aqueous solutions in our case. With replacement of the Faraday glass that has been used in the conventional null-method polarimetcr with our sample, our improved method is completely free from the defects of Faraday glass such as the scattering center and the strain-induced birefringence. Furthermore, the optical rotatory power of a sample is determined, in principle, to be independent of the cell length. As a demonstrative experiment, the optical rotatory power of dilute glucose aqueous solutions was successfully measured.