total reflection

American  

noun

Optics.

1. the effect that occurs when light meets the interface between the medium in which it is traveling and a medium of smaller refractive index at an angle of incidence greater than the critical angle, all light being reflected back to the first medium.

---

Example Sentences

This enhancement occurs because of total reflection at high converging angles on the back surface between the glass and air.

From Science Daily • Mar. 27, 2024

“These have been moments of total reflection and of making decisions that will be acted on in accordance with the concerns of the people of Puerto Rico and their best interests.”

From The New Yorker • Jul. 26, 2019

There is no total reflection for rays going in the other direction—for example, from air to water—since the condition that the second medium must have a smaller index of refraction is not satisfied.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

“Speaks to how much it’s about bold expression. It is a total reflection of the theatrical atmosphere of New York, where your art had to be bold to stand out.”

From Washington Post

Moreover the refractive index, while high, is never so high as in a diamond and hence the brilliant cannot be so shaped as to secure the amount of total reflection given by a well-made diamond.

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