Frustrated total internal reflection

From Citizendium
Revision as of 03:02, 31 July 2007 by imported>John Stephenson (categories)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Frustrated total internal reflection, or FITR, is a phenomenon that occurs when electromagnetic waves reflected within an optical medium(with a lower index of refraction) are interrupted in their internal reflection by an object with a higher refractive index.

In a typical optical system, total internal reflection occurs when a light ray reflects completely inside higher-index medium and reflects onto a lower-index surface.