Photonics Dictionary

The angle through which a ray of light is deviated by a refracting or reflecting surface, or a prism; the angle between an incident ray and the refracted or reflected ray.

The angle formed between a refracted ray and the normal to the surface. This angle lies in a common plane with the angle of incidence. See also Snell's law of refraction.

1. In astronomy, the angle measured clockwise (eastward) in a horizontal plane, usually from north (true north, Y-north, grid north or magnetic north). 2. With relation to the plane-polarized light...

A parallel plate of glass in such a position that the refracted and reflected rays of incident parallel light are mutually perpendicular. In this situation the reflected light is plane polarized, and...

The ray refracted by a sphere of transparent material that travels back as closely as possible to the original path formed by the incident ray.

A ray that travels from one point to another without being reflected or refracted.

The separation of unpolarized light into two plane-polarized elements by a doubly refracting crystal. When a crystal, such as calcite, is placed between the eye and a pinhole in a card, two bright...

The area of optics in which the propagation of light is described by geometrical lines (or rays) governed by Fermat's Principle. Geometrical optics is useful as long as the objects in which the light...

A GRIN (gradient index) lens is a type of optical lens that utilizes a gradient in refractive index across its volume rather than having a uniform refractive index like conventional lenses. This...

The law stating that when light strikes a surface at such an angle that the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular to each other, the maximum polarization of the light occurs in both...

A light ray that has had its direction altered because of its traversing an air-to-glass interface at some angle. In an optical waveguide, a ray that is refracted from the core into the cladding.

The technique for measuring the index profile of an optical fiber by scanning the entrance face with the vertex of a high numerical aperture cone and measuring the change in power of refracted...

Any ray through an optical system that is not a meridional ray. The plane created by a refracted skew ray does not contain the optical axis.

The incident ray, the normal to the refracting surface at the point of incidence of the ray at the surface, and the refracted ray all lie in a single plane. The ratio of the sine of the angle between...