While investigating Wikipedia, I came across a fleeting suggestion that 
a material's optical properties are somehow related to its electrical 
and magnetic properties.

Obviously, this seems *highly* implausible, given the abundance of 
materials with similar optical qualities but highly disimilar electrical 
properties, and vice versa. On the other hand... light is supposedly 
related to both electricity and magnetism in some mysterious way. So, in 
principle, it seems as if it *could* be true...

Unfortunately, the article states that the parameters of interest are 
"permitivity" and "permeability". I've checked the articles for both of 
these, and they are entirely beyond my ability to comprehend. (But then, 
so were Wikipedia's articles on DSP and filter design - which actually 
turns out to be quite simple when explained _properly_.)

Does anybody here know anything about this curios idea?

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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