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Concept
Index ellipsoid
Summary
In crystal optics, the index ellipsoid (also known as the optical indicatrix or sometimes as the dielectric ellipsoid) is a geometric construction which concisely represents the refractive indices and associated polarizations of light, as functions of the orientation of the wavefront, in a doubly-refractive crystal (provided that the crystal does not exhibit optical rotation). When this ellipsoid is cut through its center by a plane parallel to the wavefront, the resulting intersection (called a central section or diametral section) is an ellipse whose major and minor semiaxes have lengths equal to the two refractive indices for that orientation of the wavefront, and have the directions of the respective polarizations as expressed by the electric displacement vector D. The principal semiaxes of the index ellipsoid are called the principal refractive indices.
It follows from the sectioning procedure that each principal semiaxis of the ellipsoid is generally not the refractive index for propagation in the direction of that semiaxis, but rather the refractive index for wavefronts tangential to that direction, with the D vector parallel to that direction, propagating perpendicular to that direction. Thus the direction of propagation (normal to the wavefront) to which each principal refractive index applies is in the plane perpendicular to the associated principal semiaxis.
The index ellipsoid is not to be confused with the index surface, whose radius vector (from the origin) in any direction is indeed the refractive index for propagation in that direction; for a birefringent medium, the index surface is the two-sheeted surface whose two radius vectors in any direction have lengths equal to the major and minor semiaxes of the diametral section of the index ellipsoid by a plane normal to that direction.
If we let denote the principal semiaxes of the index ellipsoid, and choose a Cartesian coordinate system in which these semiaxes are respectively in the , , and directions, the equation of the index ellipsoid is
If the index ellipsoid is triaxial (meaning that its principal semiaxes are all unequal), there are two cutting planes for which the diametral section reduces to a circle.
Official source
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