Definitions for nicol prism
nicol prism

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Nicol prismnoun

   optical device that produces plane-polarized light

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Nicol prismnoun

   An optical device used to generate polarized light.

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1. nicol prism

   A Nicol prism is an optical device, invented in the 19th century by William Nicol, which is used to produce a beam of polarized light. It consists of a crystal of calcite that is carefully cut and joined back together using a special transparent adhesive solution. Due to the birefringent nature of calcite, the prism splits incoming unpolarized light into two rays traveling in different directions. One of these rays is absorbed by the adhesive, while the other escapes from the prism as polarized light. Nicol prisms are frequently used in microscopes and other optical instruments.

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Nicol prism

   A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer, an optical device used to produce a polarized beam of light from an unpolarized beam. It is made in such a way that it eliminates one of the rays by Total Internal Reflection i.e, the O-ray is eliminated and only the E-ray is transmitted through the prism. See polarized light. It was the first type of polarizing prism to be invented, in 1828 by William Nicol of Edinburgh. It consists of a rhombohedral crystal of Iceland spar that has been cut at an angle of 68° with respect to the crystal axis, cut again diagonally, and then rejoined as shown using, as a glue, a layer of transparent Canada balsam. Unpolarized light enters through the left face of the crystal, as shown in the diagram, and is split into two orthogonally polarized, differently directed, rays by the birefringence property of the calcite. One of these rays experiences a refractive index of no = 1.658 in the calcite and it undergoes total internal reflection at the calcite-glue interface because its angle of incidence at the glue layer exceeds the critical angle for the interface. It passes out the top side of the upper half of the prism with some refraction as shown. The other ray experiences a lower refractive index in the calcite, and is not totally reflected at the interface because it strikes the interface at a sub-critical angle. The e-ray merely undergoes a slight refraction, or bending, as it passes through the interface into the lower half of the prism. It finally leaves the prism as a ray of plane polarized light, undergoing another refraction as it exits the far right side of the prism. The two exiting rays have polarizations orthogonal to each other, but the lower, or e-ray, is the more commonly used for further experimentation because it is again traveling in the original horizontal direction, assuming that the calcite prism angles have been properly cut. The direction of the upper ray, or o-ray, is quite different from its original direction because it alone suffers total internal reflection at the glue interface as well as a final refraction on exit from the upper side of the prism.

Matched Categories

1. • Optical Device

How to pronounce nicol prism?

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Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of nicol prism in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of nicol prism in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=nicol prism
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nicol_Prism
3. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
4. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=nicol prism