08/03/2019 Prism - Wikipedia

Prism
In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that
refract light. At least two of the flat surfaces must have an angle between them. The
exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional
geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and
rectangular sides, and in colloquial use "prism" usually refers to this type. Some
types of optical prism are not in fact in the shape of geometric prisms. Prisms can
be made from any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for which they
are designed. Typical materials include glass, plastic, and fluorite.

A dispersive prism can be used to break light up into its constituent spectral colors
(the colors of the rainbow). Furthermore, prisms can be used to reflect light, or to
split light into components with different polarizations. A plastic prism

Contents
How prisms work
Deviation angle and dispersion
History
Types of prisms
Dispersive prisms
Reflective prisms
Beam-splitting prisms
Polarizing prisms
Deflecting prisms
In optometry
See also
References
Further reading
External links

How prisms work

Light changes speed as it moves from one medium to another (for example, from air into the glass of the prism). This
speed change causes the light to be refracted and to enter the new medium at a different angle (Huygens principle).
The degree of bending of the light's path depends on the angle that the incident beam of light makes with the surface,
and on the ratio between the refractive indices of the two media (Snell's law). The refractive index of many materials
(such as glass) varies with the wavelength or color of the light used, a phenomenon known as dispersion. This causes
light of different colors to be refracted differently and to leave the prism at different angles, creating an effect similar
to a rainbow. This can be used to separate a beam of white light into its constituent spectrum of colors. A similar
separation happens with iridescent materials, such as a soap bubble. Prisms will generally disperse light over a much
larger frequency bandwidth than diffraction gratings, making them useful for broad-spectrum spectroscopy.
Furthermore, prisms do not suffer from complications arising from overlapping spectral orders, which all gratings
have.

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Prisms are sometimes used for the internal reflection at

the surfaces rather than for dispersion. If light inside the
prism hits one of the surfaces at a sufficiently steep
angle, total internal reflection occurs and all of the light
is reflected. This makes a prism a useful substitute for a
mirror in some situations.

Deviation angle and dispersion

Ray angle deviation and dispersion through a prism can
be determined by tracing a sample ray through the
element and using Snell's law at each interface. For the
prism shown at right, the indicated angles are given by
A triangular prism, dispersing light; waves shown to
illustrate the differing wavelengths of light. (Click to
view animation)

All angles are positive in the direction

shown in the image. For a prism in air
. Defining , the
deviation angle is given by

A ray trace through a prism with apex angle α. Regions 0, 1, and 2

have indices of refraction , , and , and primed angles
indicate the ray's angle after refraction.

If the angle of incidence and prism apex angle are both small, and if the angles are
expressed in radians. This allows the nonlinear equation in the deviation angle to be approximated by

The deviation angle depends on wavelength through n, so for a thin prism the deviation angle varies with wavelength
according to

History
René Descartes had seen light separated into the colors of the rainbow by glass or water,[1] though the source of the
color was unknown. Isaac Newton's 1666 experiment of bending white light through a prism demonstrated that all the
colors already existed in the light, with different color "corpuscles" fanning out and traveling with different speeds
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through the prism. It was only later that Young and Fresnel combined Newton's
particle theory with Huygens' wave theory to explain how color arises from the
spectrum of light.

Newton arrived at his conclusion by passing the red color from one prism through a
second prism and found the color unchanged. From this, he concluded that the
colors must already be present in the incoming light — thus, the prism did not
create colors, but merely separated colors that are already there. He also used a lens
and a second prism to recompose the spectrum back into white light. This
experiment has become a classic example of the methodology introduced during the
scientific revolution. The results of the experiment dramatically transformed the
field of metaphysics, leading to John Locke's primary vs secondary quality A triangular prism,
distinction. dispersing light

Newton discussed prism dispersion in great detail in his book Opticks.[2] He also
introduced the use of more than one prism to control dispersion.[3] Newton's description of his experiments on prism
dispersion was qualitative. A quantitative description of multiple-prism dispersion was not needed until multiple
prism laser beam expanders were introduced in the 1980s.[4]

Types of prisms

Dispersive prisms
Dispersive prisms are used to break up light into its constituent spectral colors
because the refractive index depends on frequency; the white light entering the
prism is a mixture of different frequencies, each of which gets bent slightly
differently. Blue light is slowed down more than red light and will therefore be bent
more than red light.

Triangular prism
Abbe prism
Pellin–Broca prism
Amici prism
Compound prism
Grism, a dispersive prism with a diffraction grating on its surface

Reflective prisms Comparison of the spectra

obtained from a diffraction
Reflective prisms are used to reflect light, in order to flip, invert, rotate, deviate or
grating by diffraction (1),
displace the light beam. They are typically used to erect the image in binoculars or and a prism by refraction
single-lens reflex cameras – without the prisms the image would be upside down (2). Longer wavelengths
for the user. Many reflective prisms use total internal reflection to achieve high (red) are diffracted more,
reflectivity. but refracted less than
shorter wavelengths
The most common reflective prisms are: (violet).

Porro prism
Porro–Abbe prism
Amici roof prism
Pentaprism and roof pentaprism
Abbe–Koenig prism
Schmidt–Pechan prism

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Bauernfeind prism
Dove prism
Retroreflector prism

Beam-splitting prisms
Some reflective prisms are used for splitting a beam into two or more beams:

Beam splitter cube

Dichroic prism

Polarizing prisms
There are also polarizing prisms which can split a beam of light into components of varying polarization. These are
typically made of a birefringent crystalline material.

Nicol prism
Wollaston prism
Nomarski prism – a variant of the Wollaston prism with advantages in microscopy
Rochon prism
Sénarmont prism
Glan–Foucault prism
Glan–Taylor prism
Glan–Thompson prism

Deflecting prisms
Wedge prisms are used to deflect a beam of light by a fixed angle. A pair of such prisms can be used for beam steering;
by rotating the prisms the beam can be deflected into any desired angle within a conical "field of regard". The most
commonly found implementation is a Risley prism pair.[5] Two wedge prisms can also be used as an anamorphic pair
to change the shape of a beam. This is used to make a round beam from the elliptical output of a laser diode.

Rhomboid prisms are used to laterally displace a beam of light without inverting the image.

Deck prisms were used on sailing ships to bring daylight below deck,[6] since candles and kerosene lamps are a fire
hazard on wooden ships.

In optometry
By shifting corrective lenses off axis, images seen through them can be displaced in the same way that a prism
displaces images. Eye care professionals use prisms, as well as lenses off axis, to treat various orthoptics problems:

Diplopia (double vision)

Positive and negative fusion problems
Positive relative accommodation and negative relative accommodation problems.
Prism spectacles with a single prism perform a relative displacement of the two eyes, thereby correcting eso-, exo,
hyper- or hypotropia.

In contrast, spectacles with prisms of equal power for both eyes, called yoked prisms (also: conjugate prisms,
ambient lenses or performance glasses) shift the visual field of both eyes to the same extent.[7]

See also
Minimum deviation
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Multiple-prism dispersion theory

Prism compressor
Prism dioptre
Prism spectrometer
Prism (geometry)
Theory of Colours
Triangular prism (geometry)
Superprism
Eyeglass prescription
Prism lighting

References
1. James Gleick (June 8, 2004). Isaac Newton. Vintage. ISBN 1400032954.
2. Isaac Newton (1704). Opticks. London: Royal Society. ISBN 0-486-60205-2.
3. "The Discovery of the Spectrum of Light" (http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/lightexperiments.html). Retrieved
19 December 2009.
4. F. J. Duarte and J. A. Piper (1982). "Dispersion theory of multiple-prism beam expanders for pulsed dye lasers".
Opt. Commun. 43 (5): 303–307. Bibcode:1982OptCo..43..303D (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982OptCo..43..3
03D). doi:10.1016/0030-4018(82)90216-4 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0030-4018%2882%2990216-4).
5. Duncan, B.D.; Bos, P.J.; Sergan, V. (2003). "Wide-angle achromatic prism beam steering for infrared
countermeasure applications" (https://works.bepress.com/philip_bos/56/download/). Opt. Eng. 42 (4): 1038–1047.
Bibcode:2003OptEn..42.1038D (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003OptEn..42.1038D). doi:10.1117/1.1556393 (ht
tps://doi.org/10.1117%2F1.1556393).
6. Loenen, Nick (February 2012). Wooden Boat Building: How to Build a Dragon Class Sailboat (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=9T1tjjteQesC&pg=PA120&dq=Deck+prisms+were+used+on+sailing+ships+to+bring+daylight+b
elow+deck&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiprcLLm6rXAhUQ02MKHTC_BwMQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Deck%20
prisms%20were%20used%20on%20sailing%20ships%20to%20bring%20daylight%20below%20deck&f=false).
FriesenPress. ISBN 9781770974067.
7. Kaplan, M; Carmody, D. P.; Gaydos, A (1996). "Postural orientation modifications in autism in response to
ambient lenses". Child Psychiatry and Human Development. 27 (2): 81–91. PMID 8936794 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.
nih.gov/pubmed/8936794).

Further reading
Hecht, Eugene (2001). Optics (4th ed.). Pearson Education. ISBN 0-8053-8566-5.

External links
"Prism" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Prism). Encyclopædia
Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 361.
Java applet of refraction through a prism (http://www.phy.hk/wiki/englishhtm/RefractionByPrism.htm)

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