Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Refraction at interface. Many materials have a well-characterized refractive index, but these indices often depend strongly upon the frequency of light, causing optical dispersion. Standard refractive index measurements are taken at the "yellow doublet" sodium D line, with a wavelength (λ) of 589 nanometers.
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.
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 ...
In an optical fiber, the normalized frequency, V (also called the V number), is given by = =, where a is the core radius, λ is the wavelength in vacuum, n 1 is the maximum refractive index of the core, n 2 is the refractive index of the homogeneous cladding, and applying the usual definition of the numerical aperture NA.
A complex-valued wavenumber can be defined for a medium with complex-valued relative permittivity, relative permeability and refraction index n as: [9] = = where k 0 is the free-space wavenumber, as above.
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.
The index of refraction (n) is calculated from the change of angle of a collimated monochromatic beam of light from vacuum into liquid using Snell's law for refraction. Using the theory of light as an electromagnetic wave, [9] light takes a straight-line path through water at reduced speed (v) and wavelength (λ).