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Notes on Optical Constants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

C. G. Darwin
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh

Extract

The tensor calculus introduced in a recent paper proves a powerful method of investigating the light scattered laterally as exemplified in the blue of the sky. The late Lord Rayleigh worked out the effect on the polarisation of having non-spherical molecules, and the present note is practically a repetition of his work but with a somewhat greater generality. The method has the advantage that it does not become unmanageable for molecules of a more complicated type of asymmetry, whereas a perusal of his work suggests that it would be a very complicated matter to give the lateral scattering from a set of arbitrary orientated “optically active” molecules. As this case has at present no practical interest, I have merely indicated the procedure so that it could easily be applied when required.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1925

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References

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