#birefringence

Albarran Cabrera   —–   Instagram

Polarized

This strange crystal acts like metal and glass at the same time

A newly mapped crystal can manipulate light in astonishing ways, opening the door to ultrathin AR glasses, smart contact lenses, and tiny high-speed optical chips.

Creating nearly invisible wearable technologies such as smart contact lenses and ultrathin augmented reality (AR) glasses will require a radical redesign of conventional optical components. Instead of relying on bulky lenses and hardware, researchers are exploring materials that can manipulate light at the atomic scale. A team from XPANCEO, working with scientists from the National University of Singapore and the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, has reported a major advance in that effort. Their study focuses on a layered crystal called molybdenum oxychloride (MoOCl2), which displays a collection of unusual optical properties that could help dramatically shrink future optical devices.

This demantoid is viewed through a polished window that is roughly parallel to the (110) crystal face. The sample was photographed with cross-polarized lighting and immersed in methylene iodide to high light the anomalous birefringence. The sample measures 8.8 mm across. Photomicrograph by Aaron Palke.

Birefringence Benefits

Shape of the white of the eye (the sclera) – at the back of the eyeball influences vision. Measuring changes in the scleral optical property called birefringence using a new tool called TRIPS-OCT brings promise of predicting short-sightedness and complications

Read the published research paper here

Still from video from work by Xinyu Liu and colleagues

Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, Singapore

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, June 2023

physicsfun

Fluorescence and Birefringence in Calcite: two samples of calcite- each with different impurities that produce blue fluorescence for the small crystal and red fluorescence for the larger one under a 405nm violet laser. Also one can clearly see that the single laser beam takes two paths through the crystals- the speed of light in a calcite crystal depends on polarization because the refractive index is different depending on the polarization orientation of the light transmitted through it. ➡️ Follow the link in my profile for info on where to get this and other amazing items featured here on