Investigation of changes in the permittivity of liquids in a strong optical field

An investigation was made of changes in the permittivity ε of liquid insulators (benzene and nitrobenzene) in strong optical field. The change in the permittivity Δε was deduced from a change in the capacitance C of a capacitor filled with the investigated liquid and subjected to illumination with laser radiation of 100–250 kW/cm² power density. The corresponding electric field intensity of laser radiation was 10 kV/cm and the change produced by this field Δε was positive and amounted to about 10^–5. The influence of various effects contributing to the permittivity change was analyzed.