Index of Refraction

Definition

The index of refraction is a measure of how much light slows down when it passes through a medium. It quantifies the bending or change in direction that occurs as light travels from one medium to another.

Related terms

Snell's Law:

This law describes how light bends when it passes from one medium to another, based on their respective indices of refraction.

Total Internal Reflection: This phenomenon occurs when light traveling in a high-index medium encounters an interface with a lower-index medium at an angle greater than the critical angle, causing all the light to reflect back into the higher-index medium.

Dispersion: Dispersion refers to the separation of white light into its component colors (rainbow) when passing through a prism or other transparent materials due to differences in refractive indices for different wavelengths.