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The drag coefficient is always associated with a particular surface area. [3] The drag coefficient of any object comprises the effects of the two basic contributors to fluid dynamic drag: skin friction and form drag. The drag coefficient of a lifting airfoil or hydrofoil also includes the effects of lift-induced drag.
Refractive index. A ray of light being refracted through a glass slab. In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is a dimensionless number that gives the indication of the light bending ability of that medium. Refraction of a light ray. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or ...
Condensed matter physics. Surface plasmon polaritons ( SPPs) are electromagnetic waves that travel along a metal – dielectric or metal–air interface, practically in the infrared or visible -frequency. The term "surface plasmon polariton" explains that the wave involves both charge motion in the metal ("surface plasmon") and electromagnetic ...
Birefringence can be induced (or corrected) in optical fibers through bending them which causes anisotropy in form and stress given the axis around which it is bent and radius of curvature. In addition to anisotropy in the electric polarizability that we have been discussing, anisotropy in the magnetic permeability could be a source of ...
Brewster's angle (also known as the polarization angle) is an angle of incidence at which light with a particular polarization is perfectly transmitted through a transparent dielectric surface, with no reflection. When unpolarized light is incident at this angle, the light that is reflected from the surface is therefore perfectly polarized.
Spectroscopy, primarily in the electromagnetic spectrum, is a fundamental exploratory tool in the fields of astronomy, chemistry, materials science, and physics, allowing the composition, physical structure and electronic structure of matter to be investigated at the atomic, molecular and macro scale, and over astronomical distances .
Light passing through a Fresnel rhomb undergoes two total internal reflections at the same carefully chosen angle of incidence. After one such reflection, the p component is advanced by 1/8 of a cycle (45°; π/4 radians) relative to the s component. With two such reflections, a relative phase shift of 1/4 of a cycle (90°; π/2) is obtained. [6]
Laser linewidth is the spectral linewidth of a laser beam. Two of the most distinctive characteristics of laser emission are spatial coherence and spectral coherence. While spatial coherence is related to the beam divergence of the laser, spectral coherence is evaluated by measuring the linewidth of laser radiation.
Dispersion (optics) 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. In optics and in wave propagation in general, dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency; [1 ...
It deviates in the ultraviolet and infrared regions. In optics, Cauchy's transmission equation is an empirical relationship between the refractive index and wavelength of light for a particular transparent material. It is named for the mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy, who originally defined it in 1830 in his article "The refraction and ...