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Refractive index

In optics, the refractive index (also called refraction index or index of refraction), often denoted n, is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum (c) to the speed of light in a given optical medium (v), n=c/v. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or refracted, when entering a material, as described by Snell's law of…

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Typical values

Cauchy's equationCoefficientsVacuum wavelengthMicrometresVisible light
30 related topics

Relations to other quantities

Optical path lengthInterferenceDiffractionFermat's principleOptimize
39 related topics

Nonscalar, nonlinear, or nonhomogeneous refraction

BirefringenceAnisotropyOptical axisWaveplatesCrystals
22 related topics

Determination

RefractometersErnst AbbeParallelTelescopePhotodetector
33 related topics

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Overview

Definition

History

Typical values

Microscopic explanation

Dispersion

Complex refractive index

Relations to other quantities

Nonscalar, nonlinear, or nonhomogeneous refraction

Determination

Applications

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Refractive index

Nodes218
Edges217
Triples174
Avg. degree1.99
Density0.009174
Components1

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Refractive index

Top relations

related to Refractive index below unity · 14
Refractive index → According, An, As, Earth's, Geometric, In, Radio Propagation, See, Since, Skywave, The, This, X-ray, X-rays
related to Complex refractive index · 13
Refractive index → Beer, Here, It, Kramers, Kronig, Lambert, Re, Since, That, The, These, This, When
related to External links · 10
Refractive index → Archived, Dense Materials, Feynman Lectures, Free, II Ch, INFO Refractive, NIST, Physics Vol, Wayback Machine Thin, WorldFilmetrics
related to Dispersion · 9
Refractive index → Abbe, As, Dispersion, For, In, It, Sellmeier, The, This
related to Bandgap · 8
Refractive index → Empirical, Ge, InSb, Many, Moses, PbS, The, This
related to Refractive index variations · 8
Refractive index → DIC, In, Nevertheless, The, These, To, Unstained, Zernike
related to Density · 7
Refractive index → BaO, However, In, Li2O, Many, MgO, PbO
related to Homogeneous media · 7
Refractive index → Ernst Abbe, Handheld, In, Light, The, They, This
related to Principal refractive index wavelength ambiguity · 7
Refractive index → Abbe, Because, Manufacturers, The, Typically, Vd, Ve
related to Definition · 6
Refractive index → Historically, If, It, Since, The, This

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Important terminology

refractive index light displaystyle wave wavelength refraction materials phase medium optical used density also vacuum frac material indices angle called

Entity relationships Subject–Predicate–Object triples

SubjectPredicateObjectConfidenceSrc
Refractive indexis alinear response function0.90text
Refractive indexis aimportant property of the components of any optical instrument0.90text
Refractive indexis afundamental physical property of a substance0.90text
soundinstance ofIt can also be applied to wave phenomena0.80text
glass have extremely low DC conductivityinstance ofGood dielectric materials0.80text
and at low frequencies the dielectric loss is also negligibleinstance ofGood dielectric materials0.80text
resulting in almost no absorptioninstance ofGood dielectric materials0.80text
.mw-parser-output .template-chem2-suinstance ofA relatively high refractive index and low density can be obtained with glasses containing light metal oxides0.80text
plasticsinstance ofbut isotropic materials0.80text
glass can also often be made birefringent by introducing a preferred direction throughinstance ofbut isotropic materials0.80text
e.g.instance ofbut isotropic materials0.80text
an external force or electric fieldinstance ofbut isotropic materials0.80text

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