All Questions
Tagged with refraction optics
916
questions
2
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209
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Do high powered lasers refract differently than other light?
So I have a question: I am told that there are naval lasers that target over 100's of miles ship-to-ship (not ship to air). Someone asserted that powerful lasers would refract differently than light. ...
- 475
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0
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72
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Photon momentum in Snell's law of refraction
In the drivation of Snell's law for light as EM waves, we have the wave vector components parallel to the interface $k1\parallel$ = $k2\parallel$ as shown in the picture.
From $k_{1x} = k_{2x}$, we ...
- 191
1
vote
1
answer
71
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Snell's Law- Extraordinary ray
I applied the snell's law to find the angle of refraction of the Ordinary and Extraordinary ray. And I got the correct answer 3.51. But I know my approach to the question is wrong because I applied ...
3
votes
1
answer
102
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Can the refractive index of a medium be negative?(<0)
Recently I was asked in a test what would happen if the refractive index of a medium was negative. Is it possible really? The refractive index is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum and ...
- 41
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Shift in image caused by refraction in normal image formation and shift in fringe (youngs double slit experiment)
for shift in a image from its original position due to a slab of thickness $t$ and refractive index $u$ is given by $shift(s)=t[1-1/u]$
and for shift in fringes formed during youngs double slit ...
1
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5
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152
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Is there a way of changing air refractivity?
Is there any kind of way/equipment that can change the air refractive index? For example, a mirage is hot air refracting light in a certain way, making it look like water.
The best I could think of ...
- 277
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1
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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
17
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1
answer
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Would there be one rainbow, a double rainbow or bisecting rainbow on a planet with two suns?
I'm just curious if binary stars are low over the horizon and the conditions are just perfect for the formation of rainbow, would I see a single rainbow, double rainbow or two rainbows intersecting ...
- 13k
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Generally speaking, the speed of a wave depends on the medium and the wave type, so waves of the same type in the same medium attain the same speed [duplicate]
My question is, given the above statement, why electromagnetic waves attain different speeds in media other than vacuum even though they are of the same type and propagate in the same medium?
- 959
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What is the speed of light in case of Critical Angle?
When light travels from an optically denser to a rarer medium, it bends away from the normal and at a specific angle of incidence, the angle of refraction is ${90}^{\circ}$. When the angle of ...
0
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0
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Schlick's approximation for reflectance when $n_1 = n_2$
another raytracer here.
I'm using Schlick's approximation to the Fresnel equations, which is said to be reasonably faithful.
I'm a little puzzled about the situation where the incident ray is just ...
- 101
8
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1
answer
504
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Skylight reflection shows birefringence patterns
I noticed that the skylight where I work looked white to me, but its reflection from the tiles below showed a colorful pattern. See the images below, and also a video that shows this effect from ...
- 12.5k
1
vote
1
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189
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Why the phase velocity of X-rays inside glass is faster than $c$?
For hard X-rays the refraction index of glass becomes slightly $n<1$ which means that the phase velocity (not group velocity) of X-rays inside glass is larger than $c$ the group velocity speed ...
- 4,170
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58
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About Snell's law and Fresnel equation
I'm currently studying optics with Hecht's book.
I got some questions about Snell's law and Fresnel equation.
When $\theta_i = \theta_p$(the polarization angle), as $\theta_p+\theta_t=\frac\pi2$, by ...
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0
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Is it possible to have a medium rarer than vacuum? [duplicate]
I was wondering whether it is possible to have a medium rarer than vacuum. If that is possible then we can increase the speed of light beyond $c$. Might sound like a weird question.
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