Number of optical axes in absorbing triclinic crystals

The possible numbers of optical axes in absorbing triclinic crystals have been considered. Most of these crystals possess four circular optical axes; however, there may be crystals having one isotropic optical axis, two or three circular optical axes, or simultaneously one isotropic and one or two circular optical axes. It is shown that particular cases significantly differ from the general case of crystal with four circular axes. The dependence of the form of the complex permittivity tensor on the number of optical axes is presented. The ellipticities of eigenwaves and the transmitted-light ellipticity in the case of normal incidence of a wave with a right- or left-hand circular polarization are calculated for these crystals.