Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 99 views

    Nicol Prism

    Uploaded by

    Nil Taiiay
    A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer made from calcite crystal that was the first device to produce plane polarized light. It works by splitting unpolarized light into two rays as it enters the crystal, with one ray undergoing total internal reflection and exiting as polarized light. Nicol prisms were widely used for mineralogical microscopy and polarimetry until being replaced by newer polarizing technologies like Polaroid sheets.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Nicol Prism

    Uploaded by

    Nil Taiiay
    99 views3 pages
    A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer made from calcite crystal that was the first device to produce plane polarized light. It works by splitting unpolarized light into two rays as it enters the crystal, with one ray undergoing total internal reflection and exiting as polarized light. Nicol prisms were widely used for mineralogical microscopy and polarimetry until being replaced by newer polarizing technologies like Polaroid sheets.

    Original Description:

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer made from calcite crystal that was the first device to produce plane polarized light. It works by splitting unpolarized light into two rays as it enters the crystal, with one ray undergoing total internal reflection and exiting as polarized light. Nicol prisms were widely used for mineralogical microscopy and polarimetry until being replaced by newer polarizing technologies like Polaroid sheets.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    99 views3 pages

    Nicol Prism

    Uploaded by

    Nil Taiiay
    A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer made from calcite crystal that was the first device to produce plane polarized light. It works by splitting unpolarized light into two rays as it enters the crystal, with one ray undergoing total internal reflection and exiting as polarized light. Nicol prisms were widely used for mineralogical microscopy and polarimetry until being replaced by newer polarizing technologies like Polaroid sheets.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Nicol prism

    A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer, an optical device made from calcite crystal used to produce
    and analyse plane polarized light. It is made in such a way that it eliminates one of the rays by
    total internal reflection, i.e. the ordinary ray is eliminated and only the extraordinary ray is
    transmitted through the prism. It was the first type of polarizing prism, invented in 1828 by
    William Nicol (1770–1851) of Edinburgh. It consists of a rhombohedral crystal of Iceland spar (a
    variety of calcite) that has been cut at an angle of 68° with respect to the crystal axis, cut again
    diagonally, and then rejoined as shown, using a layer of transparent Canada balsam as a glue.[1]

    Schematic representation of the propagation of light in a Nicol prism showing the splitting of unpolarized light into
    ordinary and extraordinary polarized rays

    Unpolarized light ray enters through the left face of the crystal, as shown in the diagram, and is
    split into two orthogonally polarized, differently directed rays by the birefringence property of
    calcite. The ordinary ray, or o-ray, experiences a refractive index of no = 1.658 in the calcite and
    undergoes a total internal reflection at the calcite–glue interface because of its angle of
    incidence at the glue layer (refractive index n = 1.550) exceeds the critical angle for the interface.
    It passes out the top side of the upper half of the prism with some refraction, as shown. The
    extraordinary ray, or e-ray, experiences a lower refractive index (ne = 1.486) in the calcite crystal
    and is not totally reflected at the interface because it strikes the interface at a sub-critical angle.
    The e-ray merely undergoes a slight refraction, or bending, as it passes through the interface into
    the lower half of the prism. It finally leaves the prism as a ray of plane-polarized light, undergoing
    another refraction, as it exits the far right side of the prism. The two exiting rays have
    polarizations orthogonal (at right angles) to each other, but the lower, or e-ray, is the more
    commonly used for further experimentation because it is again traveling in the original
    horizontal direction, assuming that the calcite prism angles have been properly cut. The
    direction of the upper ray, or o-ray, is quite different from its original direction because it alone
    suffers total internal reflection at the glue interface, as well as a final refraction on exit from the
    upper side of the prism.

    Nicol prisms were once widely used in mineralogical microscopy and polarimetry, and the term
    "using crossed Nicols" (abbreviated as XN) is still used to refer to the observing of a sample
    placed between orthogonally oriented polarizers. In most instruments, however, Nicol prisms
    have been replaced by other types of polarizers such as Polaroid sheets and Glan–Thompson
    prisms.

    See also

    Glan–Foucault prism

    Glan–Thompson prism

    Nomarski prism

    Rochon prism

    Sénarmont prism

    Wollaston prism

    References

    1. Greenslade, Thomas B., Jr. "Nicol Prism" (http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Polarized_Light/Nic


    ol_Prism/Nicol_Prism.html) . Kenyon College. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
    Retrieved from
    "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
    title=Nicol_prism&oldid=1056026715"

    Last edited 2 months ago by 223.225.66.58

    You might also like