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pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...

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though the speed of light in air is <strong>on</strong>ly slightly slower. When light travels unim-<br />

peded through a vacuum, it travels at a rate of about c ≈ 2.998x10<br />

8 m<br />

s<br />

30<br />

. When<br />

light travels through a medium denser than a vacuum, its velocity v decreases to<br />

a value less than c. The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the velocity of<br />

light in another medium is the index of refracti<strong>on</strong> η for that material:<br />

where<br />

vλ<br />

η(λ) = c<br />

vλ<br />

is the velocity of light of wavelength λ in the medium<br />

c is the speed of light in a vacuum<br />

(2.2)<br />

Note that the index of refracti<strong>on</strong> is a functi<strong>on</strong> of the wavelength of light. Wave-<br />

length λ is the distance between repeating units of a wave pattern, while frequency<br />

f is the rate of which repeating elements in a wave travel. For a wave pattern, the<br />

velocity v is given by<br />

v = fλ (2.3)<br />

For light, the velocity is c<strong>on</strong>stant (v = c). Visible light is not pure, but com-<br />

prised of many different wavelengths, each traveling at different frequencies. For<br />

example, the frequency of blue light (short wavelengths) is higher then red light<br />

(l<strong>on</strong>g wavelengths). However, in practice it is some<strong>time</strong>s typical to use a single<br />

wavelength to simplify calculati<strong>on</strong>s. A midrange wavelength of light, 589nm, is<br />

comm<strong>on</strong>ly used to represent the visible spectrum–the prominent yellow-red b<strong>and</strong><br />

of the Sodium D-line emissi<strong>on</strong> [Col06].<br />

The surface where two <strong>media</strong> come into c<strong>on</strong>tact is called an interface; wesee<br />

a change of the speed of light at any interface between two materials of different

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