Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Fermat’s principle and the formal equivalence of local light-ray rotation and refraction at the interface between homogeneous media with a complex refractive index ratio

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

We derive a formal description of local light-ray rotation in terms of complex refractive indices. We show that Fermat’s principle holds, and we derive an extended Snell’s law. The change in the angle of a light ray with respect to the normal of a refractive index interface is described by the modulus of the refractive index ratio; the rotation around the interface normal is described by the argument of the refractive index ratio.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article
More Like This
Imaging with complex ray-optical refractive-index interfaces between complex object and image distances

Johannes Courtial, Blair C. Kirkpatrick, and Miguel A. Alonso
Opt. Lett. 37(4) 701-703 (2012)

Ray refraction in uniaxial crystals by Fermat’s principle

Pengqian Wang
Appl. Opt. 57(18) 4950-4954 (2018)

Optical Refraction and Fermat’s Principle at a Point*

Richard Schlegel
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 40(4) 244-245 (1950)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Figures (2)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Equations (19)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Equations are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved