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Circular dichroism causes incident linearly polarized light to become elliptically polarized. The two phenomena are closely related, just as are ordinary absorption and dispersion. If the entire optical rotatory dispersion spectrum is known, the circular dichroism spectrum can be calculated, and vice versa.
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]
In a dispersive prism, material dispersion (a wavelength-dependent refractive index) causes different colors to refract at different angles, splitting white light into a spectrum. A compact fluorescent lamp seen through an Amici prism. Dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency. [1]
The name "dispersion relation" originally comes from optics. It is possible to make the effective speed of light dependent on wavelength by making light pass through a material which has a non-constant index of refraction, or by using light in a non-uniform medium such as a waveguide. In this case, the waveform will spread over time, such that ...
This is a result of the prism material's index of refraction varying with wavelength (dispersion). Generally, longer wavelengths (red) undergo a smaller deviation than shorter wavelengths (blue). The dispersion of white light into colors by a prism led Sir Isaac Newton to conclude that white light consisted of a mixture of different colors.
Conceptual animation of light dispersion through a prism. High frequency (blue) light is deflected the most, and low frequency (red) the least. Refractive processes take place in the physical optics limit, where the wavelength of light is similar to other distances, as a kind of scattering.
Such dispersion of light in glass or water underlies the origin of rainbows and other optical phenomena, in which different wavelengths appear as different colors. In optical instruments, dispersion leads to chromatic aberration ; a color-dependent blurring that sometimes is the resolution-limiting effect.
For example, the higher dispersion flint glasses have relatively small Abbe numbers < whereas the lower dispersion crown glasses have larger Abbe numbers. Values of V d {\displaystyle V_{\mathsf {d}}} range from below 25 for very dense flint glasses, around 34 for polycarbonate plastics, up to 65 for common crown glasses, and 75 to 85 for some ...