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

optical sound, optical soundtrack, optical tooling, optical tweezers, optical wedge, optic axis, optic chiasma, optic disc, optician, opticist, optic nerve

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.
Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, July-December, 1827|Various
A surface expressing the optical relations of such crystals is thus an ellipsoid of revolution about the optic axis.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7|Various
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 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012