Introduction To Crystal Optics

The reports investigates the propagation of light in the visible region through a crystalline medium. In Part I, the objective is to determine if the anisotropic arrangement of ordinary (isotropic) dipoles at the nodal points of an orthorhombic lattice would account for the existence of double refraction. Some features of the traditional 'theory of dispersion' are disclosed and clarified. In part II, a crystalline medium is considered as filling a half- space and having a plane boundary at z=0. A plane optical wave is incident on this medium. Because of the linearity of the equations it has to be superimposed on the field originating in the crystal. It is shown that this incident optical wave is actually prevented from entering the crystal because of the modification produced in the field of the crystal by the introduction of a boundary. Material Added 1970. The conclusion that the incident optical field cannot penetrate the crystal boundary, together with a similar conclusion in a paper by Oseen, is the basis of the Ewald-Oseen Extinction Theorem.

A concise yet comprehensive study of the behavior of light in crystals, this volume's topics range from space lattices and point groups to polarization and dispersion. "A clear, concise, and carefully illustrated study..." — American Mathematical Monthly. With 175 figures and 8 plates, including 18 color photographs.

The first volume of the book concerns the introduction of photonic crystals and applications including design and modeling aspects. Photonic crystals are attractive optical materials for controlling and manipulating the flow of light. In particular, photonic crystals are of great interest for both fundamental and applied research, and the two dimensional ones are beginning to find commercial applications such as optical logic devices, micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), sensors. The first commercial products involving two-dimensionally periodic photonic crystals are already available in the form of photonic-crystal fibers, which use a microscale structure to confine light with radically different characteristics compared to conventional optical fiber for applications in nonlinear devices and guiding wavelengths. The goal of the first volume is to provide an overview about the listed issues.

Describes basic techniques for determining the optical constants of crystals, using only a polarizing microscope and immersion media. For beginning students in optical crystallography.

Spatial dispersion, namely, the dependence of the dielectric-constant tensor on the wave vector (i.e., on the wavelength) at a fixed frequency, is receiving increased attention in electrodynamics and condensed-matter optics, partic ularly in crystal optics. In contrast to frequency dispersion, namely, the frequency dependence of the dielectric constant, spatial dispersion is of interest in optics mainly when it leads to qualitatively new phenomena. One such phenomenon has been weH known for many years; it is the natural optical activity (gyrotropy). But there are other interesting effects due to spatial dispersion, namely, new normal waves near absorption lines, optical anisotropy of cubic crystals, and many others. Crystal optics that takes spatial dispersion into account includes classical crystal optics with frequency dispersion only, as a special case. In our opinion, this fact alone justifies efforts to develop crystal optics with spatial dispersion taken into account, although admittedly its influence is smaH in some cases and it is observable only under rather special conditions. Furthermore, spatial dispersion in crystal optics deserves attention from another point as well, namely, the investigation of excitons that can be excited by light. We contend that crystal optics with spatial dispersion and the theory of excitons are fields that overlap to a great extent, and that it is sometimes quite impossible to separate them. It is our aim to show the true interplay be tween these interrelations and to combine the macroscopic and microscopic approaches to crystal optics with spatial dispersion and exciton theory.