Refractive index light object

The PLM can be used in a reflection or a transmission mode. With either mode, light of various wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared, polarized or unpolarized, is used to yield a wide variety of physical measurements. With just ordinary white light, a particle or any object detail down to about 0.5 p.m (500 nm) in diameter can be observed to detect shape, size, color, refractive index, melting point, and solubiUty in a group of solvents, all nondestmetively. Somewhat larger particles yield UV, visible, or IR absorption spectra. 

The schlieren microscope is able to detect refractive index variations to six decimal places. Any small difference in optical path (index difference, film thickness, etc) is very precisely detected by the schlieren microscope, especially in the Dodd modification. It is, in effect, a darkfield method. The specimen is illuminated with light in a portion of the illuminating cone and that direct light is masked in the conjugate back focal plane of the objective (Fig. 3). The only light to pass through this plane is refracted, reflected, or diffracted by the specimen. 

Optical Properties. When light falls on an object, it is either partially absorbed, reflected, or transmitted. The behavior of the object as it relates to each of these three possibiUties determines visual appearance. Optical properties of fibers give useful information about the fiber stmcture refractive indexes correlate well with fiber crystalline and molecular orientation and birefringence gives a measure of the degree of anisotropy of the fiber. 

In the case of aqueous thin films between oil droplets (Figure 5), the interferometer beam is brought into the microscope through the epi-illumination attachment whereby the objective lens is used to both observe the film and focus the interferometer beam. The contrast of the observed image is much improved in stray light is minimized by positioning a pinhole at the image plan of the epi-illumination device. The thickness calculations remained the same as for the a/w films as the refractive index of the aqueous thin film was the same in both cases. 

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