extraordinary ray

noun Optics, Crystallography.

the part of a doubly refracted ray that has changed speed and vibrations in the principal plane of the crystal.

Origin of extraordinary ray

First recorded in 1870–75

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

British Dictionary definitions for extraordinary ray

extraordinary ray

noun

optics the plane-polarized ray of light that does not obey the laws of refraction in a doubly refracting crystalCompare double refraction, ordinary ray

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012