Spatially varyng index of refraction: an open ended undergraduate topic /

There are many commonplace examples of waves moving along a curved path in an inhomogeneous media. There are reports of a simple lecture demonstration of light bending in a sugar solution being used to motivate students in physics, geophysics, and acoustics courses. For those students who wish to pu...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Krueger, David A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:Acceso Biblioteca Electrónica de Ciencia y Tecnología (con proxy UNC)
Description
Summary:There are many commonplace examples of waves moving along a curved path in an inhomogeneous media. There are reports of a simple lecture demonstration of light bending in a sugar solution being used to motivate students in physics, geophysics, and acoustics courses. For those students who wish to pursue this topic we discuss many avenues of additional research. With relatively simple equipment one can measure the index of refraction n (y,t) and its first and second spatial derivatives as well as the time dependence. The analysis can be approached from a generalization of Snell’s law, the equations for the eikonal, Fermat’s principle, and the classical approximation and analogies with trajectories of particles.
Physical Description:páginas 183-188