Hi guys,
I am interested in the optical properties of dielectrics at the moment.
There are different types of dielectrics, which are often classified by
their homogeneity or uniformity. From what I have read, uniformity is
defined as follow: a dielectric is non uniform if the size of its
particles are large compared to light's wavelength. I also read that
homogeneity is not a good criterion, because a material with particles
smaller than the wavelengths of visible light will has to be considered
as inhomogeneous, although it behaves uniformly.
At first it sounded good to me. But then I thought about Rayleigh
scattering. This occurs with particles that are much smaller than the
wavelengths of light, doesn't it? THen surely that sould bread down the
validity of the definition of uniformity, since particles smaller than
light wavelengths generate a (weak) scatter.
Is that definition rubbish then? Any comments?
Thanks in advance
Enrique
- posted 15 years ago