birefringence and dispersion

Birefringence refers to a property of certain materials where they can split a single incident light ray into two rays with different refractive indices. This occurs when the material has an anisotropic structure, meaning that its properties depend on the direction of the light passing through it. Dispersion, on the other hand, is the process where different wavelengths of light travel at different speeds when passing through a medium. As a result, the medium causes the light to spread out or disperse, causing the different colors of the light spectrum to separate.

Explore

Requires login.