Refractive index, Physics

Assignment Help:

Refractive index:

The most important optical measurement for any transparent material is its refractive index (n). The refractive index is the ratio of the speed of light (c) in a vacuum to the speed of light in the medium:

The speed of light in a material is always slower than in a vacuum, so the refractive index is always greater than one in the optical part of the spectrum. Although light travels in straight lines through optical materials, something different happens at the surface. Light is bent as it passes through a surface where the refractive index changes. The amount of bending depends on the refractive indexes of the two materials and the angle at which the light strikes the surface between them.

The angle of incidence and refraction are measured not from the plane of the surfaces but from a line perpendicular to the surfaces. The relationship is known as "Snells Law", which is written; ni sin I = nr sin R, where ni and nr are the refractive indexes of the initial medium and the medium into which the light is refracted. I and R are the angles of incidence and refraction.

1747_REFRACTIVE INDEX.png

Snell's law indicates that refraction can't take place when the angle of incidence is too large. If the angle of incidence exceeds a critical angle, where the sine of the angle of refraction would equal one, light cannot get out of the medium. Instead the light undergoes total internal reflection and bounces back into the medium.

Figure  illustrates the law that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. It is this phenomenon of total internal reflection that keeps light confined within a fibre optic.

23_REFRACTIVE INDEX1.png


Related Discussions:- Refractive index

Define Displacement: , Displacement: - The modification in position of a bo...

Displacement: - The modification in position of a body in a certain direction is known as displacement. It is a vector function and its unit in SI system is meter.

Determine the potential difference across the ammeter, A current transforme...

A current transformer has two turns on the primary winding and a secondary winding of 260 turns. The secondary winding is connected to an ammeter with a resistance of 0.2.The

Determine the focal lengths of the lens, An object located four focal lengt...

An object located four focal lengths in front of a thin, converging lens is moved to within two focal lengths of the lens.  As a result, does the size of the image produced by

Inertial frame of reference, Inertial Frame of Reference : If in a given sy...

Inertial Frame of Reference : If in a given system a free object does not experience any acceleration or force, the system is called the inertial frame. Any reference frame that mo

Nominal resistance, The resistances of commercially-available discrete resi...

The resistances of commercially-available discrete resistors are restricted to particular sets. For example, the available values of resistors with 10% tolerance are selections fro

Entropy, #how entropy tells which process is spontaneous and which is non s...

#how entropy tells which process is spontaneous and which is non spontaneous.i also wana know that although 2nd law of thermodynamic is for heat engine and heat pump how it is rela

What is the magnitude of the horizontal force, A man pushes a couch a dista...

A man pushes a couch a distance of 0.75 m. If 113 J of work is done. what is the magnitude of the horizontal force applied?

#LCR CIRCUIT IN PYTHON PROGRAMMING, Ask question #HOW CAN WE EXPRESS A LCR ...

Ask question #HOW CAN WE EXPRESS A LCR CIRCUIT IN PYTHON PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE#

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd