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An italic n, how much a medium slows light.
Also known as: Index of refraction, Refractive index
Sometimes confused with: Optical density
The refractive index is the speed of light in vacuum divided by its speed in the medium, and it is always greater than one for the phase velocity in ordinary materials. It varies with wavelength, which is why a prism splits white light and why lens designers quote it at a named line.
Denotes the refractive index: the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to its phase speed in the medium.
Contexts: Laboratory
Depends on wavelength — dispersion — so a single quoted value is meaningless without a stated wavelength, conventionally the sodium D line.
Contexts: Laboratory
Collides with amount of substance, number density, the principal quantum number and the polytropic index.
Contexts: Laboratory
An italic lowercase letter n, a vertical stroke with an arch to its right.