double refraction

American  

noun

Optics.

1. the separation of a ray of light into two unequally refracted, plane-polarized rays of orthogonal polarizations, occurring in crystals in which the velocity of light rays is not the same in all directions.

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double refraction British  

noun

1. Also called: birefringence.  the splitting of a ray of unpolarized light into two unequally refracted rays polarized in mutually perpendicular planes

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Etymology

Origin of double refraction

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

double refraction

If it contains no metal, when viewed by polarized light it will give a double refraction effect in handsome colors.

From Time Magazine Archive

And this double refraction of his mind by which a concentrated and individualised Britling did but present a larger impersonal Britling beneath, carried with it a duplication of his conscience and sense of responsibility.

From Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Its strong double refraction and its relative softness, as well as its great density will serve to distinguish it.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Frank Bertram Wade

The substance is usually optically isotropic, though sometimes it exhibits anomalous double refraction; fibrous zinc sulphide which is doubly refracting is to be referred to the hexagonal species wurtzite.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various

With hardness evidently between 7 and 8 and with double refraction and with the kind of flaws peculiar to rather brittle minerals we had in all probability either a tourmaline or an emerald.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Frank Bertram Wade