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Everything about Optical path length
Product of geometric length and refractive index
In optics, optical path length, also known as optical length or optical distance, is the vacuum length that light travels over the same time taken to travel through a given medium length. For a homogeneous medium through which the light ray propagates, it is calculated as taking the product of the geometric length of the optical path followed by light and the refractive index of the medium. For inhomogeneous optical media, the product above is generalized as a path integral as part of the ray tracing procedure. A difference in OPL between two paths is often called the optical path difference (OPD). OPL and OPD are important because they determine the phase of the light and govern interference and diffraction of light as it propagates. Wikipedia →
🧠Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: Optical path lengthA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Determining photon flux and effective optical path length in intensified flow photoreactorsInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: The history of Detroit and MichiganThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Speckle reduction in optical coherence tomography by "path length encoded" angular compoundingCited 140 times
- Go sideways: Geometrical opticsA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Acousto-opticsA closely related topic
đź“– Definitions
No dictionary entry for this exact phrase.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Speckle reduction in optical coherence tomography by "path length encoded" angular compounding
Optical biopsy of breast tissue using differential path-length spectroscopy
Optical path-length spectroscopy of wave propagation in random media
Thermal lens determination of the temperature coefficient of optical path length in optical materials
Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Optical Path Length in Spectral Interferometry
Very long optical path-length from a compact multi-pass cell
Relations between ac-dc components and optical path length in photoplethysmography
All-optical, thermo-optical path length modulation based on the vanadium-doped fibers
🆕 Influential since 2022
Determining photon flux and effective optical path length in intensified flow photoreactors
Detection Limits of Antibiotics in Wastewater by Real-Time UV–VIS Spectrometry at Different Optical Path Length
Multiple optical path length reflections enhancement based on balloon-type photoacoustic cell for trace gas sensing
Suppression of frequency-mixing effect for pm-level heterodyne interferometers based on “zero coupling” optical path length control
Auto-Design of Multi-Pass Cell With Small Size and Long Optical Path Length Using Parallel Multi-Population Genetic Algorithm
đź“š Books worth reading
The history of Detroit and MichiganSilas Farmer · 1884- 📕Structural Aspects of Quantum Field Theory and Noncommutative GeometryGerhard Grensing · 2013
- 📕Characterization and integration of defect-mediated photodetectors for silicon photonic circuitsJonathan Kristopher Doylend · 2011
Advances in Neural Networks – ISNN 2013Chengan Guo · 2013
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
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