Indices Of Refraction
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Indices Of Refraction
In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is the ratio of the apparent speed of light in the air or vacuum to the speed in the medium. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or refracted, when entering a material. This is described by Snell's law of refraction, , where and are the angle of incidence and angle of refraction, respectively, of a ray crossing the interface between two media with refractive indices and . The refractive indices also determine the amount of light that is reflected when reaching the interface, as well as the critical angle for total internal reflection, their intensity (Fresnel equations) and Brewster's angle. The refractive index, n, can be seen as the factor by which the speed and the wavelength of the radiation are reduced with respect to their vacuum values: the speed of light in a medium is , and similarly the wavelength in that medium is , where is the wavelength of that light in va ...
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In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one transmission medium, medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and Wind wave, water waves also experience refraction. How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed. Optical Prism (optics), prisms and Lens (optics), lenses use refraction to redirect light, as does the human eye. The refractive index of materials varies with the wavelength of light,R. Paschotta, article ochromatic dispersion in th, accessed on 2014-09-08 and thus the angle of the refraction also varies correspondingly. This is called dispersion (optics), dispersion and causes prism (optics), prisms and rainbows to divide white light into its constituent spectral ...
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