A report on Reflection (physics)

The reflection of Mount Hood in Mirror Lake.

$Refraction of light at the interface between two media.$

General scattering mechanism which gives diffuse reflection by a solid surface

Multiple reflections in two plane mirrors at a 60° angle.

Sound diffusion panel for high frequencies

Change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated.

- Reflection (physics)

25 related topics with Alpha

Specular reflection

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Reflections on still water are an example of specular reflection.

Specular reflection from a wet metal sphere

Esplanade of the Trocadero in Paris after rain. The layer of water exhibits specular reflection, reflecting an image of the Eiffel Tower and other objects.

Specular reflection, or regular reflection, is the mirror-like reflection of waves, such as light, from a surface.

$Partial transmission and reflection of a pulse travelling from a low to a high refractive index medium.$

Fresnel equations

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Interface between different optical media.

$Partial transmission and reflection of a pulse travelling from a low to a high refractive index medium.$

The plane of incidence is defined by the incoming radiation's propagation vector and the normal vector of the surface.

When light strikes the interface between a medium with refractive index n1 and a second medium with refractive index n2, both reflection and refraction of the light may occur.

$A ray of light being refracted in a plastic block$

Refractive index

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Optical medium is a dimensionless number that gives the indication of the light bending ability of that medium.

$A ray of light being refracted in a plastic block$

$Refraction of a light ray$

$Thomas Young coined the term index of refraction.$

$Diamonds have a very high refractive index of 2.417.$

$A split-ring resonator array arranged to produce a negative index of refraction for microwaves$

$In optical mineralogy, thin sections are used to study rocks. The method is based on the distinct refractive indices of different minerals.$

$Light of different colors has slightly different refractive indices in water and therefore shows up at different positions in the rainbow.$

$In a prism, dispersion causes different colors to refract at different angles, splitting white light into a rainbow of colors.$

$The variation of refractive index with wavelength for various glasses. The shaded zone indicates the range of visible light.$

The colors of a soap bubble are determined by the optical path length through the thin soap film in a phenomenon called thin-film interference.

$Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different refractive indices, with n2 > n1. Since the phase velocity is lower in the second medium (v2 < v1), the angle of refraction θ2 is less than the angle of incidence θ1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.$

Total internal reflection can be seen at the air-water boundary.

$The power of a magnifying glass is determined by the shape and refractive index of the lens.$

$The relation between the refractive index and the density of silicate and borosilicate glasses$

$A calcite crystal laid upon a paper with some letters showing double refraction$

Birefringent materials can give rise to colors when placed between crossed polarizers. This is the basis for photoelasticity.

$A gradient-index lens with a parabolic variation of refractive index (n) with radial distance (x). The lens focuses light in the same way as a conventional lens.$

$The principle of many refractometers$

$A handheld refractometer used to measure the sugar content of fruits$

A differential interference contrast microscopy image of yeast cells

Apart from the transmitted light there is also a reflected part.

Glass

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Non-crystalline, often transparent amorphous solid, that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics.

The amorphous structure of glassy silica (SiO2) in two dimensions. No long-range order is present, although there is local ordering with respect to the tetrahedral arrangement of oxygen (O) atoms around the silicon (Si) atoms.

Microscopically, a single crystal has atoms in a near-perfect periodic arrangement; a polycrystal is composed of many microscopic crystals; and an amorphous solid such as glass has no periodic arrangement even microscopically.

Windows in the choir of the Basilica of Saint Denis, one of the earliest uses of extensive areas of glass (early 13th-century architecture with restored glass of the 19th century)

Quartz sand (silica) is the main raw material in commercial glass production

A Pyrex borosilicate glass measuring jug

A high-strength glass-ceramic cooktop with negligible thermal expansion.

A CD-RW (CD). Chalcogenide glass form the basis of rewritable CD and DVD solid-state memory technology.

Samples of amorphous metal, with millimeter scale

Part of German stained glass panel of 1444 with the Visitation; pot metal coloured glass of various colours, including white glass, black vitreous paint, yellow silver stain, and the "olive-green" parts are enamel. The plant patterns in the red sky are formed by scratching away black paint from the red glass before firing. A restored panel with new lead cames.

Moldavite, a natural glass formed by meteorite impact, from Besednice, Bohemia

Trinitite, a glass made by the Trinity nuclear-weapon test

Iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide additives are often used in the production of green bottles.

Cobalt oxide produces rich, deep blue glass, such as Bristol blue glass.

Different oxide additives produce the different colours in glass: turquoise (Copper(II) oxide), purple (Manganese dioxide), and red (Cadmium sulfide).

Red glass bottle with yellow glass overlay

Four-colour Roman glass bowl, manufactured circa 1st century B.C.

The Portland Vase, Roman cameo glass, about 5–25 AD

Byzantine cloisonné enamel plaque of St Demetrios, c. 1100, using the senkschmelz or "sunk" technique

The Royal Gold Cup with basse-taille enamels on gold; weight 1.935 kg, late 14th-century. Saint Agnes appears to her friends in a vision.

The Reichsadlerhumpen, enamelled glass with the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, and the arms of the various territories on its wings, was a popular showpiece of enamelled glass in the German lands from the 16th century on.

thumb|alt=white jar with fine stripes|Filigree style Venetian glass jar

Émile Gallé, Marquetry glass vase with clematis flowers (1890-1900)

Glass vase by art nouveau artist René Lalique

Clara Driscoll Tiffany lamp, laburnum pattern, c. 1910

A glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, "The Sun" at the "Gardens of Glass" exhibition in Kew Gardens, London

The refractive, reflective and transmission properties of glass make glass suitable for manufacturing optical lenses, prisms, and optoelectronics materials.

Total internal reflection

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Fig.2:Repeated total internal reflection of a 405nm laser beam between the front and back surfaces of a glass pane. The color of the laser light itself is deep violet; but its wavelength is short enough to cause fluorescence in the glass, which re-radiates greenish light in all directions, rendering the zigzag beam visible.

Fig.3:Total internal reflection of light in a semicircular acrylic block.

Fig.7:Total internal reflection by the water's surface at the shallow end of a swimming pool. The broad bubble-like apparition between the swimmer and her reflection is merely a disturbance of the reflecting surface. Some of the space above the water level can be seen through "Snell's window" at the top of the frame.

Fig.9:Depiction of an incident sinusoidal plane wave (bottom) and the associated evanescent wave (top), under conditions of total internal reflection. The reflected wave is not shown.

Fig.10:Disembodied fingerprints visible from the inside of a glass of water, due to frustrated total internal reflection. The observed fingerprints are surrounded by white areas where total internal reflection occurs.

Fig.14:Porro prisms (labeled 2 & 3) in a pair of binoculars.

An Indian triggerfish and its total reflection in the water's surface.

Total reflection of a paintbrush by the water-air surface in a glass.

Total internal reflection of a green laser in the stem of a wine glass.

Total internal reflection (TIR) is the optical phenomenon in which waves arriving at the interface (boundary) from one medium to another (e.g., from water to air) are not refracted into the second ("external") medium, but completely reflected back into the first ("internal") medium.

Mirror

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A first surface mirror coated with aluminum and enhanced with dielectric coatings. The angle of the incident light (represented by both the light in the mirror and the shadow behind it) matches the exact angle of reflection (the reflected light shining on the table).

4.5 m high acoustic mirror near Kilnsea Grange, East Yorkshire, UK, from World War I. The mirror magnified the sound of approaching enemy Zeppelins for a microphone placed at the focal point.

Roman fresco of a woman fixing her hair using a mirror, from Stabiae, Italy, 1st century AD

Detail of the convex mirror from the Arnolfini portrait, Bruges, 1434 AD

'Adorning Oneself', detail from 'Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies', Tang dynasty copy of an original by Chinese painter Gu Kaizhi, c. 344–405 AD

A sculpture of a lady looking into a mirror, from Halebidu, India, 12th century

18th century vermeil mirror in the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Strasbourg

Mirror with laquered back inlaid with 4 phoenixes holding ribbons in their mouths. Tang Dynasty. Eastern Xi;an city

A curved mirror at the Universum museum in Mexico City. The image splits between the convex and concave curves.

A large convex mirror. Distortions in the image increase with the viewing distance.

$A dielectric mirror-stack works on the principle of thin-film interference. Each layer has a different refractive index, allowing each interface to produce a small amount of reflection. When the thickness of the layers is proportional to the chosen wavelength, the multiple reflections constructively interfere. Stacks may consist of a few to hundreds of individual coats.$

A hot mirror used in a camera to reduce red eye

A mirror reflects light waves to the observer, preserving the wave's curvature and divergence, to form an image when focused through the lens of the eye. The angle of the impinging wave, as it traverses the mirror's surface, matches the angle of the reflected wave.

A mirror reverses an image in the direction of the normal angle of incidence. When the surface is at a 90°, horizontal angle from the object, the image appears inverted 180° along the vertical (right and left remain on the correct sides, but the image appears upside down), because the normal angle of incidence points down vertically toward the water.

A mirror reflects a real image (blue) back to the observer (red), forming a virtual image; a perceptual illusion that objects in the image are behind the mirror's surface and facing the opposite direction (purple). The arrows indicate the direction of the real and perceived images, and the reversal is analogous to viewing a movie with the film facing backwards, except the "screen" is the viewer's retina.

Four different mirrors, showing the difference in reflectivity. Clockwise from upper left: dielectric (80%), aluminum (85%), chrome (25%), and enhanced silver (99.9%). All are first-surface mirrors except the chrome mirror. The dielectric mirror reflects yellow light from the first-surface, but acts like an antireflection coating to purple light, thus produced a ghost reflection of the lightbulb from the second-surface.

Flatness errors, like rippled dunes across the surface, produced these artifacts, distortion, and low image quality in the far field reflection of a household mirror.

$A dielectric, laser output-coupler that is 75–80% reflective between 500 and 600 nm, on a 3° wedge prism made of quartz glass. Left: The mirror is highly reflective to yellow and green but highly transmissive to red and blue. Right: The mirror transmits 25% of the 589 nm laser light. Because the smoke particles diffract more light than they reflect, the beam appears much brighter when reflecting back toward the observer.$