All Questions
11
questions
2
votes
0
answers
149
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What can be the possible causes for variation in stress-induced birefringence in an isotropic material?
Birefringence is the phenomenon of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. When an unpolarized light passes through such a material, ...
- 21
3
votes
5
answers
491
views
Variations in Refractive Index of Materials
It's quite a common fact that different types of glass have different refractive indices. Most sites I've found attribute these differences to variations in the 'density' of the glass, which is not ...
- 1,538
0
votes
1
answer
279
views
Highest refractive index dielectric
What is the material or metamaterial that is a very good dielectric and has a very high refractive index at least in frequencies below $500\ MHz$?
- 119
0
votes
2
answers
915
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Which naturally occuring solid material has the lowest refractive index?
I am looking for the material with the lowest possible refractive index. Googling did not help much, the best I found is this article suggesting that n can be as low as 1.39, but not giving any ...
- 310
1
vote
1
answer
142
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Are there optical materials with larger mean deviation with little to zero angular dispersion?
The following statement is from Concepts of Physics by Dr. H.C.Verma, from the chapter "Dispersion and Spectra", page 434, topic "Dispersive Power":
The mean deviation depends on ...
- 5,306
4
votes
3
answers
16k
views
Does temperature affect the index of refraction?
I would like to know the physical reasoning behind the fact that temperature indeed does change the index of refraction of a certain medium.
(Is there an easy experiment for me to try this at home?)
- 41
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
What does the refractive index for e.g. alpha mean?
When I look for some materials like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barium_sulfate and want to extract the refractive index then there is written: (nD)=1.636 (alpha). And sometimes also for beta and ...
- 1,507
4
votes
4
answers
10k
views
What is the connection between the refractive index of a material and its transparency?
From my understanding, refractive index is an indication as to how the speed of light changes when it passes through a material. However a professor has asked me how would I determine whether or not ...
- 133
1
vote
0
answers
47
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Refractive index in metamaterials [duplicate]
Why do metamaterials have $n<0$?
They are defined to be those materials with $\varepsilon <0$ and $\mu<0$, but the definition of the refractive index is
$$n=\sqrt{\frac{\varepsilon\mu}{\...
- 937
1
vote
1
answer
738
views
Properties of light and refractive index of materials
Why does the refractive index of a material dependent on the wavelenght of light incident on it.
1
vote
1
answer
139
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What are the physical optical limitations photonic metamaterials can offer?
Modern technology has introduced new photonic metamaterials that can extend optical properties beyond what standard materials can offer. For example a negative index of refraction is now possible ...
- 11.7k