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2V Angle
A conoscopic interference pattern or interference figure is a pattern of birefringent colours crossed by dark bands (or ''isogyres''), which can be produced using a geological petrographic microscope for the purposes of mineral identification and investigation of mineral optical and chemical properties. The figures are produced by optical interference when diverging light rays travel through an optically non-isotropic substance - that is, one in which the substance's refractive index varies in different directions within it. The figure can be thought of as a "map" of how the birefringence of a mineral would vary with viewing angle away from perpendicular to the slide, where the central colour is the birefringence seen looking straight down, and the colours further from the centre equivalent to viewing the mineral at ever increasing angles from perpendicular. The dark bands correspond to positions where optical extinction (apparent isotropy) would be seen. In other words, the interfe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birefringence
Birefringence is the optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. These optically anisotropic materials are said to be birefringent (or birefractive). The birefringence is often quantified as the maximum difference between refractive indices exhibited by the material. Crystals with non-cubic crystal structures are often birefringent, as are plastics under mechanical stress. Birefringence is responsible for the phenomenon of double refraction whereby a ray of light, when incident upon a birefringent material, is split by polarization into two rays taking slightly different paths. This effect was first described by Danish scientist Rasmus Bartholin in 1669, who observed it in calcite, a crystal having one of the strongest birefringences. In the 19th century Augustin-Jean Fresnel described the phenomenon in terms of polarization, understanding light as a wave with field components in transverse polariz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
