Prism (optics)

Types of Prisms

• Dispersive prisms break up light into its constituent spectral colors.
• Reflective prisms are used to reflect, invert, rotate, or deviate light.
• Depolarizer prisms can alter the polarization of light.
• Other types of prisms can alter polarization, maintain optics, or convert between circular and linear polarization.
• Prisms have various uses in optics, plasmonics, and microscopy.

Dispersive Prisms

• Dispersive prisms refract light and separate it into different colors based on wavelength.
• Triangular prism is a common type of dispersive prism.
• Other types of compound prisms include Amici prism, Littrow prism, Pellin-Broca prism, and Abbe prism.
• Grism is a dispersive prism with a diffraction grating on its surface.
• Spectral dispersion is a well-known property of dispersive prisms.

Reflective Prisms

• Reflective prisms are used to reflect light and maintain the orientation of the image.
• Total internal reflection is used to achieve near-perfect reflection in reflective prisms.
• Prisms made of optical glass with anti-reflective coating have lower light loss compared to metallic mirrors.
• Thin-film optical layers can be deposited on prisms to create beam-splitter cubes.
• Reflective prisms can eliminate etalon effects, back-side reflection, and slight beam deflection.

Depolarizer Prisms

• Birefringent crystals can be assembled to create depolarization of light.
• Cornu depolarizer and Lyot depolarizer are examples of depolarizer prisms.
• Depolarization is observed when temporal or spatial coherence of the beam is reduced.
• Depolarization is not observed for ideal monochromatic plane waves.
• Depolarizer prisms convert coherence of polarization components into decoherence.

Other Uses of Prisms

• Prisms made of isotropic materials like glass can alter polarization of light.
• Total internal reflection in prisms has various applications in optics, plasmonics, and microscopy.
• Wedge prisms are used to deflect a beam of monochromatic light by a fixed angle.
• Anamorphic pair of prisms can change the profile of a beam.
• Deck prisms were used on sailing ships to bring daylight below deck.

Prism (optics) Data Sources