All Questions
11
questions
1
vote
1
answer
40
views
Can an optical medium be lossless and dispersive?
Occasionally, I come across the phrase "lossless dispersive linear optical medium". How can such a medium be possible mathematically? I mean the real and imaginary parts of the electric ...
- 437
0
votes
0
answers
46
views
How can a greater than 1 reflectance coefficient be explained in $\rm SiC$-$\rm SiO_2$ interface?
I ran a simulation using the Transfer Matrix Method to plot the R,T and A curves for a SiC->SiO2 interface. There's a region of incident energies where the |r|^2 I get is higher than 1 and the ...
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
57
views
Why are things reflective, absorbent, transparent etc? [duplicate]
What determines whether a material reflects, absorbs or transmits a certain wavelength of light? Just a layman's question.
- 111
3
votes
1
answer
467
views
Brewster's angle for Metal?
As metal has a high refraction index, it is possible to have Brewster's Angle for Metal when the light incident from the air? Is it possible to derive from any formula?
- 41
0
votes
1
answer
59
views
What formalism is used to model thin film optical coatings that function across a range of angles of incident light?
Thin film optical coatings [0] are atomically/molecularly thin layers of material applied to a substrate with the intent of affecting the optical properties of the substrate. For example, magnesium ...
- 21
1
vote
0
answers
417
views
Does reflection depend on wavelength?
I'm aware of processes like Rayleigh scattering, Compton scattering and pair production. But as these processes treat light as being particles(?) I'm not sure whether they are helpful to understand ...
- 1,507
0
votes
0
answers
37
views
How does light pass through any glass? [duplicate]
This might be a very stupid question for Science students, but I had this doubt always, since childhood. I still don't understand even when I'm adult because I didn't read science in detail.
When I ...
- 109
6
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Why can't ultraviolet light pass through glass?
What factor determine whether a body behaves like a transparent object for EM waves of a particular frequency?
- 61
0
votes
1
answer
291
views
Wave propagation in gyrotropic medium
Given a gyrotropic material with
$$\vec D = \epsilon \vec E + \lambda / c \vec H \\ \vec B = v / c \vec E + \mu \vec H$$
where $\epsilon, \lambda, v, c, \mu$ are constants (no relation ...
- 196
4
votes
1
answer
170
views
Why are birefringence materials so rare?
By symmetry, most crystals will show birefringence. But the effect is very minute. So the question is actually, why is the birefrigence effect in most low-symmetry materials so small?
- 1,957
116
votes
6
answers
115k
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Why is glass transparent?
Once I asked this question from my teacher and he replied "Because it passes light.". "And why does it pass light?" I asked and he said, "Because it is transparent.".
The same question again, Why ...
- 5,387