Glucose -- "D" Sugars and "L" Sugars are actually named based on their differences in optical activity.
Just Interesting
Robots That Navigate Using Polarized Light -- Like certain spiders and other bugs and creatures, these robots use differences in polarized light from the sky to discern the north/south directions.
Exotic Thin Films --Michael Brett's article, includes brief overview of applications of unusual thin films (includes GLAD technique)
Brief Abstract on Acoustically Induced Birefringence -- I'm still trying to find the whole paper, but this looks interesting. Quartz and other isotropic materials can become anisotroptic in the presence of acoustic waves
A Great Lecture Outline -- covers the basic principles of light as well as in depth discussion of birefringence and even trirefringence, which I find really interesting. Hmmm. Maybe a project in their somewhere.
Site about Labradorite -- which above site lists as possibly trirefringent. From this site, information from a huge database of minerals can be accessed. Names like Oviline (Peridot) have caught my eye.