It is sort of a personal mission to show the public that tensors and tensorial features are actually beautiful and not only a heap of numbers and indices. This page (still growing) should introduce into the fascinating world of tensors and symmetry.

Dr-habil Werner Kaminsky

Click on a representation surface to open virtual reality  

(*.wrl-file format; get a virtual reality plugin here (PC and MAC: Cortona VRML by Parallelgraphics)

Click on the text to get details of the shown tensor (this is still under construction)

Shown are representation surfaces of the specified tensorial properties. They represent only the so-called symmetric part of the tensors.

Pictures like those shown were generated with the present release (Ver. 1.1) of  WinTensor. If you are interested to generate crystal-structure VRMLs, I recommend to visit the vrml-creator service.

If you have a fast computer with a lot of memory, click here      -  -      too see all surfaces as VRML-s at once (takes some time to download)

quartz: optical rotation

quartz: elastic constants

quartz: electrooptic and SHG

quartz: piezooptics

quartz: structure

KH2PO4: optical rotation

KH2PO4: elastic constants

KH2PO4: thermoelastic const.

KH2PO4: electrooptics, SHG

KH2PO4: Structure

mannitol: optical rotation

mannitol: rel. diel. constant

mannitol: Verdet constant

mannitol: thermal expansion

mannitol: structure

TGS: optical rotation

TGS: pyroelectrics

TGS: electrooptics

TGS: electrogyration

Triglycinesulfate: structure