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The refractive index measures the phase velocity of light, which does not carry information. [20] [a] The phase velocity is the speed at which the crests of the wave move and can be faster than the speed of light in vacuum, and thereby give a refractive index below 1.
The vacuum wavelength (the wavelength that a wave of this frequency would have if it were propagating in vacuum) is =, where c is the speed of light in vacuum. In the absence of attenuation, the index of refraction (also called refractive index ) is the ratio of these two wavelengths, i.e., n = λ 0 λ = c k ω . {\displaystyle n={\frac ...
where n is the local refractive index as a function of distance along the path C. An electromagnetic wave propagating along a path C has the phase shift over C as if it was propagating a path in a vacuum, length of which, is equal to the optical path length of C.
Standard refractive index measurements are taken at the "yellow doublet" sodium D line, with a wavelength (λ) of 589 nanometers. There are also weaker dependencies on temperature , pressure / stress , etc., as well on precise material compositions (presence of dopants , etc.); for many materials and typical conditions, however, these ...
where n is the refractive index, λ is the wavelength, A, B, C, etc., are coefficients that can be determined for a material by fitting the equation to measured refractive indices at known wavelengths. The coefficients are usually quoted for λ as the vacuum wavelength in micrometres. Usually, it is sufficient to use a two-term form of the ...
The refractive index is the parameter reflecting the speed of light in a material. (Refractive index is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in a given medium. The refractive index of vacuum is therefore 1.) The larger the refractive index, the more slowly light travels in that medium.
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For common optical glasses, the refractive index calculated with the three-term Sellmeier equation deviates from the actual refractive index by less than 5×10 −6 over the wavelengths' range [5] of 365 nm to 2.3 μm, which is of the order of the homogeneity of a glass sample. [6]