The way materials interact with light, including absorption, reflection, and refraction.
Refraction: The bending of light as it passes from one medium to another.
Reflection: The bouncing of light off of a surface.
Absorption: The process by which light is absorbed by a material.
Dispersion: The separation of light into its component colors as it passes through a prism.
Scattering: The process by which light is redirected in many directions as it passes through a medium.
Polarization: The phenomenon by which light waves are restricted to vibrate in a single plane.
Refractive index: A measure of how much a substance slows down light as it passes through it.
Optical density: A measure of how much light is absorbed by a substance.
Luminescence: The emission of light by a substance that has been excited by energy.
Fluorescence: The emission of light by a substance that has been excited by light.
Phosphorescence: The emission of light by a substance that has been excited by energy and continues to emit light after the excitation source is removed.
Electromagnetic waves: The waves of energy that light consists of.
Ray optics: The study of the behavior of light in terms of rays.
Wave optics: The study of the behavior of light in terms of waves.
Interference: The interaction of waves that results in constructive or destructive interference.
Diffraction: The bending of waves as they pass around obstacles or through openings.
Dispersion relations: The relationship between a material's properties and its optical properties.
Band structure: The distribution of energy levels in a material.
Photons: Particles of light that behave both as waves and as particles.
Optical instruments: Devices used to manipulate or measure light, such as lenses, mirrors, and prisms.
Spectroscopy: The study of the interaction between light and matter, particularly the analysis of spectra.
Absorption: The ability of a material to absorb light of certain wavelengths.
Reflection: The ability of a material to reflect incident light in a certain direction.
Refraction: The bending of light upon entering a medium with a different refractive index.
Scattering: The redirection of light in all directions due to interactions with materials.
Transmission: The ability of a material to allow light to pass through it.
Polarization: The orientation of the electric field oscillations of light waves.
Dispersion: The variation of refractive index of a material with light wavelength.
Luminescence: The emission of light by a material after it has been excited by an external source.
Nonlinear optics: The phenomena in which the response of a material to light is nonlinear.
Optical anisotropy: The dependence of the optical properties of a material on the direction of light propagation relative to the crystal axes.
Absorption edge: The abrupt increase in absorption at the edge of a material's absorption spectrum.
Photoluminescence: The emission of light by a material upon excitation by light.
Photoconductivity: The increase in electrical conductivity of a material upon exposure to light.
Raman scattering: The inelastic scattering of light by a material which results in a change of energy.
Optical activity: The ability of certain materials to rotate the plane of polarization of incident light.