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optic axis
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noun Crystallography.
(in a crystal exhibiting double refraction) the direction or directions, uniaxial or biaxial, respectively, along which this phenomenon does not occur.
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Origin of optic axis
First recorded in 1655–65
Words nearby optic axis
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use optic axis in a sentence
The meteor was obviously going from the observer, its path making an angle with the optic axis of about 60.
A surface expressing the optical relations of such crystals is thus an ellipsoid of revolution about the optic axis.
This direction of no double refraction is called the optic axis of the crystal.
Six Lectures on Light|John Tyndall
British Dictionary definitions for optic axis
optic axis
noun
the direction in a uniaxial crystal or one of the two directions in a biaxial crystal along which a ray of unpolarized light may pass without undergoing double refraction
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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