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An optical prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that are designed to refract light. At least one surface must be angled — elements with two parallel surfaces are not prisms. The most familiar type of optical prism is the triangular prism, which has a triangular base and rectangular sides.
While the inner elements are sections of refractive lenses, the outer elements are reflecting prisms, each of which performs two refractions and one total internal reflection, avoiding the light loss that occurs in reflection from a silvered mirror.
Objects viewed through such a device appear upside down and mirrored. They are constructed using sets of optical right-angle prisms, concave mirrors, or a mirror plus right-angle prisms with unequal cathethus.
Porro prism binoculars were made in such a way to erect an image in a relatively small space, thus binoculars using prisms started in this way. Porro prisms require typically within 10 arcminutes (1 / 6 of 1 degree) tolerances for alignment of their optical elements (collimation) at the factory.
Eye care professionals use prism correction as a component of some eyeglass prescriptions. A lens which includes some amount of prism correction will displace the viewed image horizontally, vertically, or a combination of both directions. The most common application for this is the treatment of strabismus.
The refractive index of many materials (such as glass) varies with the wavelength or color of the light used, a phenomenon known as dispersion. This causes light of different colors to be refracted differently and to leave the prism at different angles, creating an effect similar to a rainbow.