Details
In a medium of constant refractive index, n, the OPL for a path of physical length d is just
If the refractive index varies along the path, the OPL is given by
where n(s) is the local refractive index as a function of distance, s, along the path C.
An electromagnetic wave that travels a path of given optical path length arrives with the same phase shift as if it had traveled a path of that physical length in a vacuum. Thus, if a wave is traveling through several different media, then the optical path length of each medium can be added to find the total optical path length. The optical path difference between the paths taken by two identical waves can then be used to find the phase change. Finally, using the phase change, the interference between the two waves can be calculated.
Fermat's principle states that the path light takes between two points is the path that has the minimum optical path length.
Read more about this topic: Optical Path Length
Famous quotes containing the word details:
“Then he told the news media
the strange details of his death
and they hammered him up in the marketplace
and sold him and sold him and sold him.
My death the same.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Anyone can see that to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the knee in the kitchen, with constant calls to cooking and other details of housework to punctuate the paragraphs, was a more difficult achievement than to write it at leisure in a quiet room.”
—Anna Garlin Spencer (1851–1931)