Optical properties

The optical properties of a material define how it interacts with light. The optical properties of matter are studied in optical physics, a subfield of optics. The optical properties of matter include:

• Refraction and the material's refraction index
• Polarization
• Reflection and the material's albedo or reflectance
• Absorption
• Photoluminescence (fluorescence)
• Transmittance
• Diffraction
• Dispersion
• Dichroism
• Scattering
• Birefringence
• Color
• Photosensitivity

A basic distinction is between isotropic materials, which exhibit the same properties regardless of the direction of the light, and anisotropic ones, which exhibit different properties when light passes through them in different directions.

The optical properties of matter can lead to a variety of interesting optical phenomena.

Properties of specific materials

• Optical properties of water and ice
• Optical properties of carbon nanotubes
• Crystal optics

See also

• Raman spectroscopy
• Optical filter
• Frequency response
• Nonlinear optics
• Photoelasticity

Literature

• Fox, Mark (2010). Optical properties of solids. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957336-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Papadopoulos, Manthos G.; Sadlej, Andrzej J.; Leszczynski, Jerzy, eds. (2006). Non-Linear Optical Properties of Matter. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. doi:10.1007/1-4020-4850-5. ISBN 978-1-4020-4849-4.