All Questions
22
questions
0
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74
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Let's say I have manufactured a prism from a non-dispersive medium, then light coming from air wouldn't split into colours right?
Let's say I have manufactured a prism from a non-dispersive medium, then light coming from air incident on the prism wouldn't split into colours, right? I mean light still changes direction, but all ...
- 959
1
vote
2
answers
554
views
Does refraction depend on the colour of light?
Consider passing red and yellow lights separately through the same interfaces and with the same angles of incidence.
Light of which colour will be refracted more?
This question was given to me. All I ...
- 119
1
vote
1
answer
117
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Why do fluorescence microscopes use long-pass dichroics
Superresolution fluorescence microscopy is very sensitive to chromatic aberration. Dichroic mirrors, while being biplanar, are not normal to the optical axis and so will cause some dispersion in one ...
- 116
2
votes
1
answer
364
views
How did Newton explain why a prism bends light rays causing the colors to separate?
We know today that light has wavelike properties. This explains why the rays are bent when they enter the prism. Light slows down when traveling through a medium, as the trough enters the prism before ...
- 121
0
votes
1
answer
51
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What is the definition of absolute refractive index of a medium?
I know the definition is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the phase velocity of light in the given medium. Here, which color of light do we consider while calculating the ratio? For ...
- 11
2
votes
1
answer
45
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Origins of this interesting optical phenomenon?
Sunlight reflecting off my glasses seem to disperse into these distinct red and blue bands. The glasses are acting as some sort of a prism to split the light. The glasses do have some reflective ...
- 193
0
votes
1
answer
376
views
Why is the two-term form for the Cauchy equation sufficient?
The general Cauchy equation for the relationship between refractive index and wavelength is given by,
$$n = A + \frac{B}{\lambda^{2}}+\frac{C}{\lambda^{4}}+...,$$
but this is often approximated to
$$...
- 1
3
votes
2
answers
916
views
Does recombination of light in a glass slab happens in the same way like in Newton's inverted prism experiment?
I know that refraction is due to different speeds of different wavelengths of light. So, How can those colors recombine to form a beam of white light (since different colors have different speeds)?
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3
votes
1
answer
65
views
Why does the intensity of the scattered light vary when a monochromatic laser is shined into a transparent object?
When a laser is shined into a glass ball such as this video (link) or a bottle of water (link) the light is refracted through the whole transparent body. However, the intensity of the light scattered ...
- 57
25
votes
3
answers
9k
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Why doesn’t a normal window produce an apparent rainbow?
When light refracts in a prism it creates a rainbow. My question is, why don’t all windows or transparent objects create this dispersion, i.e. why is the refractive index dependent on frequency in a ...
- 969
1
vote
2
answers
358
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What does it mean to say that glass has refractive index 1.5?
The refractive index of a material depends on the wavelength of the light incident upon it which is why dispersion happens. When we say that glass has refractive index 1.5 which wavelength do we have ...
- 11.8k
1
vote
4
answers
666
views
Is light dispersed over distance by flat mirrors?
Hello and thank you for your time: Let's assume I have a 100 squared meter circular flat mirror placed 1 AU from the sun, and let's assume my intention is to shine light on a circular area on another ...
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
121
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Is there a way to explain a rainbow in an almost-QM-correct way to a 5 year old child?
My toddler asked me "how does rainbow happen", and I would like to give a pedagogical explanation of the relation of photon frequency, its color, and the way different frequencies are bent in a drop ...
- 519
1
vote
0
answers
104
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Light dispersion/diffraction model for optical measurement system
in a project of mine I have to model the dispersion effect (through a grating) of light in the context of a camera based measurement system.
Imagine the following setup:
Left to right: collimated ...
- 11
0
votes
2
answers
401
views
Why don't we get VIBGYOR instead of white light?
Why doesn't the atmosphere disperse white light from the Sun like a prism as air is a dispersive medium? If it really did so, shouldn't we be receving the 7 colours separately instead of one?
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