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From: Invisible
Subject: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 08:53:43
Message: <4731c367@news.povray.org>
This time, the URL really *does* say it all!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index

Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?


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From: Nicolas Alvarez
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 10:02:47
Message: <4731d397$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible escribió:
> This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
> 
> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?

I remember somebody who was involved in the development of such 
materials, and was asking on these newsgroups if POV-Ray could simulate 
it. People weren't even sure what a negative index would look like, and 
POV didn't either :)


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 10:59:02
Message: <4731e0c6@news.povray.org>
Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> Invisible escribió:
>> This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
>>
>> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?
> 
> I remember somebody who was involved in the development of such 
> materials, and was asking on these newsgroups if POV-Ray could simulate 
> it. People weren't even sure what a negative index would look like, and 
> POV didn't either :)

Yeah, I would think this is likely to freak POV-Ray out a bit...

According to Wikipedia's diagrams, such a material "reflects" light, but 
with the angle of reflection NOT equal to the angle of incidence (as in 
normal reflection), but computed by Snell's law instead (as per normal 
refraction).

Damn weird if you ask me...

Also, apparently some materials have an IOR of less than 1. (E.g., 
0.98.) But not for optical wavelengths.


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 12:11:24
Message: <4731f1bc@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?

  Probably not. AFAIK povray has a very specific refraction formula, which
it converts to total internal reflection when needed. I'm all but certain
that this formula does not support the concept of negative IOR.

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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From: Alain
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 15:56:00
Message: <47322660$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/07 10:59:
> Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
>> Invisible escribió:
>>> This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
>>>
>>> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?
>>
>> I remember somebody who was involved in the development of such 
>> materials, and was asking on these newsgroups if POV-Ray could 
>> simulate it. People weren't even sure what a negative index would look 
>> like, and POV didn't either :)
> 
> Yeah, I would think this is likely to freak POV-Ray out a bit...
> 
> According to Wikipedia's diagrams, such a material "reflects" light, but 
> with the angle of reflection NOT equal to the angle of incidence (as in 
> normal reflection), but computed by Snell's law instead (as per normal 
> refraction).
> 
> Damn weird if you ask me...
> 
> Also, apparently some materials have an IOR of less than 1. (E.g., 
> 0.98.) But not for optical wavelengths.
A wave guide have ior <1 for radio waves. You can't find the equivalent for IR 
and visible light.
POV-Ray accept dispersion <0, but render the object as a mirror.
Try ior = -1.5 VS. 1.5... and the result is: (At least, it don't choke on this.)
Strange looking, unintuitive, but it work. I realy can't say if what I get is 
physicaly acurate, as I don't have anything to compare to.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
   My wife likes to talk on the phone during sex; she called me from Chicago 
last night.
	Rodney Dangerfield


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From: andrel
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 16:22:38
Message: <47322DA8.9030506@hotmail.com>
Invisible wrote:
> This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
> 
> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?
I think I remember someone doing it a few years ago. It did produce 
something like fur or so. Or am I mixing things up? ...

In p.b.i. there is a thread about 'fur and negative ior' of Swen Heinzel 
  dated march 21st 2002. Seems like I am indeed confusing some things. ;)


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From: Orchid XP v7
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 16:50:34
Message: <4732332a@news.povray.org>
Warp wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?
> 
>   Probably not. AFAIK povray has a very specific refraction formula, which
> it converts to total internal reflection when needed. I'm all but certain
> that this formula does not support the concept of negative IOR.

That was more or less my diagnosis, yes. ;-)

It's not something any typical implementation would support unless the 
designer purposely had this in mind, I would think.

Now negative light sources........ ;-)


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From: Nicolas Alvarez
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 17:00:35
Message: <47323583$1@news.povray.org>
Orchid XP v7 escribió:
> Now negative light sources........ ;-)

You never tried it? It's fun. The shadows are brighter than the lit areas :)


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 17:55:22
Message: <4732425a$1@news.povray.org>
> This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
>
> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?

Wow that's something to think about.  It was only a few years ago I learned 
that the refractive index is actually a complex number, useful when working 
with things like polarisers and (liquid) crystals that do funky things to 
the light.


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From: nemesis
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 7 Nov 2007 23:55:00
Message: <web.4732964a4b19b3ff34f7c6510@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
>
> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?

sure:
http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?id=88325

Christoph Hormann, long contributor to povray, is one of the authors.
http://www.imagico.de/


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From: nemesis
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 00:00:01
Message: <web.473297054b19b3ff34f7c6510@news.povray.org>
"nemesis" <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> > This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
> >
> > Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?
>
> sure:
> http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?id=88325
>
> Christoph Hormann, long contributor to povray, is one of the authors.
> http://www.imagico.de/

a more direct link in his own site:
http://www.imagico.de/pov/metamaterials.html


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 04:23:39
Message: <4732d59b$1@news.povray.org>
nemesis wrote:

> a more direct link in his own site:
> http://www.imagico.de/pov/metamaterials.html

Woah - so you mean POV-Ray already does this *now*?

Now suddenly the subject line seems even more appropriate. ;-)


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 04:25:47
Message: <4732d61b$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
>> This time, the URL really *does* say it all!
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_refractive_index
>>
>> Mmm, I wonder if POV-Ray can do this?
> 
> Wow that's something to think about.  It was only a few years ago I 
> learned that the refractive index is actually a complex number, useful 
> when working with things like polarisers and (liquid) crystals that do 
> funky things to the light.

Yeah, freaky isn't it?

(IIRC, the imaginary part of the complex number you speak of is just the 
amount of absorption in the material, but yeah... it's derived from the 
electronic permitivity and permeability or something. I find it rather 
bizare that electronic properties should actually affect optical ones, 
but there we are.)

BTW, did you know that there exist materials with an IOR even higher 
than diamond? And there exist materials with a (positive) IOR < 1?


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 05:50:36
Message: <4732e9fc@news.povray.org>
> I find it rather 
> bizare that electronic properties should actually affect optical ones, 
> but there we are.)

Well yeh, what's light?


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From: Phil Cook
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 06:17:04
Message: <op.t1gz8td6c3xi7v@news.povray.org>
And lo on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:50:34 -0000, scott <sco### [at] laptopcom> did  
spake, saying:

>> I find it rather bizare that electronic properties should actually  
>> affect optical ones, but there we are.)
>
> Well yeh, what's light?

Feathers, balloons, air :-P

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com


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From: Brian Elliott
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 06:40:17
Message: <4732f5a1@news.povray.org>
"scott" <sco### [at] laptopcom> wrote in message news:4732e9fc@news.povray.org...
>> I find it rather 
>> bizare that electronic properties should actually affect optical ones, 
>> but there we are.)
> 
> Well yeh, what's light?

Feathers are light.   :-P


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From: Brian Elliott
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 06:42:19
Message: <4732f61b$1@news.povray.org>
"Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote in message 
news:op.t1gz8td6c3xi7v@news.povray.org...
> And lo on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:50:34 -0000, scott <sco### [at] laptopcom> did 
> spake, saying:
>
>>> I find it rather bizare that electronic properties should actually 
>>> affect optical ones, but there we are.)
>>
>> Well yeh, what's light?
>
> Feathers, balloons, air :-P

Oh bugger, I didn't see your reply seemingly 25 minutes before mine and I 
said much the same thing.

I could swear I refreshed the list before posting.


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From: Phil Cook
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 06:52:02
Message: <op.t1g1uli2c3xi7v@news.povray.org>
And lo on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:43:01 -0000, Brian Elliott  
<NotForSpam@AskIfUWant> did spake, saying:

> "Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote in message  
> news:op.t1gz8td6c3xi7v@news.povray.org...
>> And lo on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:50:34 -0000, scott <sco### [at] laptopcom> did  
>> spake, saying:
>>
>>>> I find it rather bizare that electronic properties should actually  
>>>> affect optical ones, but there we are.)
>>>
>>> Well yeh, what's light?
>>
>> Feathers, balloons, air :-P
>
> Oh bugger, I didn't see your reply seemingly 25 minutes before mine and  
> I said much the same thing.
>
> I could swear I refreshed the list before posting.

Great minds post alike.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 07:30:35
Message: <4733016b$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
>> I find it rather bizare that electronic properties should actually 
>> affect optical ones, but there we are.)
> 
> Well yeh, what's light?

It's a phenomenon that has something to do with electricity, magnetism, 
waves and particles, but nobody really understands what exactly. ;-)

Specifically, light is an electromagnetic wave (or is it a subatomic 
particle?) in a particular frequency range (or is that particle energy?) 
that registers in our eyes due to the chemical transformations it 
induces in certain protein groups.

However, it's really damn unusual for a material's electrical or 
magnetic properties to have any bearing at all on its optical properties.

* Impure water is an excellent conductor, while pure water is a very 
good insulator. Yet both substances have almost identical optical 
properties.

* Iron is highly magnetic, while aluminium isn't. Good luck telling the 
two metals apart by their appearence!

* Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, produce 
light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light using 
electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.

Sure, theoretically they're related. But it's not something you see in 
the real world very often. ;-)

(I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
waves, but not light rays...)


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 07:50:01
Message: <web.473305e34b19b3ff726bd13c0@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

>
> * Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, produce
> light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light using
> electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.
>
I thought lightning was normal at least in a storm.

> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio
> waves, but not light rays...)

If you oscillate something fast enough it will heat up and emit light.

Stephen


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From: M a r c
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 08:00:09
Message: <47330859$1@news.povray.org>
"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de news: 
4733016b$1@news.povray.org...
> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
> waves, but not light rays...)

Is not a laser an excitated resonant optical cavity eg a oscillator?

Marc


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 08:08:19
Message: <47330a43$1@news.povray.org>
Stephen wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> 
>> * Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, produce
>> light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light using
>> electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.
>
> I thought lightning was normal at least in a storm.

Oh, sure, if you make stuff hot it will give off light. (And other 
frequencies, for that matter.) But you don't need to use electricity to 
make things hot; you can use *anything* to make it hot, and it will 
glow. So it's not really an electrical effect.

>> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio
>> waves, but not light rays...)
> 
> If you oscillate something fast enough it will heat up and emit light.

More to the point, presumably if you shine a light on some kind of 
conductor, it will induce a current... (And yet nobody has found a way 
to use this to convert sunlight to electricity yet. They all rely on 
obscure chemical and physical properties to try to do the job.)


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 08:08:56
Message: <47330a68@news.povray.org>
M_a_r_c wrote:

>> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
>> waves, but not light rays...)
> 
> Is not a laser an excitated resonant optical cavity eg a oscillator?

Actually, I thought it was a tube full of extremely hot gas with some 
mirrors at the ends? (I don't know a huge amount about lasers.)


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 09:15:02
Message: <web.473319144b19b3ff726bd13c0@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
> > Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> >
> >> * Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, produce
> >> light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light using
> >> electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.
> >
> > I thought lightning was normal at least in a storm.
>
> Oh, sure, if you make stuff hot it will give off light. (And other
> frequencies, for that matter.) But you don't need to use electricity to
> make things hot; you can use *anything* to make it hot, and it will
> glow. So it's not really an electrical effect.
>
> >> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio
> >> waves, but not light rays...)
> >
> > If you oscillate something fast enough it will heat up and emit light.
>
> More to the point, presumably if you shine a light on some kind of
> conductor, it will induce a current... (And yet nobody has found a way
> to use this to convert sunlight to electricity yet. They all rely on
> obscure chemical and physical properties to try to do the job.)

You’re nearer to school age than I am so you have a better chance of knowing
than I. I thought that you could not separate electricity and magnetism. Also
Light is part of the Electro magnetic spectrum and to my simple mind that
implies some sort of relationship.

Stephen


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 09:58:20
Message: <4733240c@news.povray.org>
> However, it's really damn unusual for a material's electrical or magnetic 
> properties to have any bearing at all on its optical properties.

I thought it was quite common, eg nearly all electrical conductors are 
opaque.

> * Impure water is an excellent conductor, while pure water is a very good 
> insulator. Yet both substances have almost identical optical properties.

I wouldn't exactly call impure water an "excellent" conductor, but more 
conductive than pure water yes...

> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
> waves, but not light rays...)

Lasers?


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 10:09:27
Message: <473326a7$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
>> However, it's really damn unusual for a material's electrical or 
>> magnetic properties to have any bearing at all on its optical properties.
> 
> I thought it was quite common, eg nearly all electrical conductors are 
> opaque.

...which the obvious exception of water, liquid NaCl, various kinds of 
crystals... ;-)

>> * Impure water is an excellent conductor, while pure water is a very 
>> good insulator. Yet both substances have almost identical optical 
>> properties.
> 
> I wouldn't exactly call impure water an "excellent" conductor, but more 
> conductive than pure water yes...

Depends what the impurities are and how much. ;-)

>> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
>> waves, but not light rays...)
> 
> Lasers?

I don't actually know how those work. I was under the impression that it 
works by exciting atoms so that they emit photons - much the same way a 
lump of iron glows if you put it in a hot fire. (But with some mirrors 
in there to ensure the light only travels in one direction...)


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From: Vincent Le Chevalier
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 10:20:44
Message: <4733294c$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible a écrit :
> scott wrote:
>> Lasers?
> 
> I don't actually know how those work. I was under the impression that it 
> works by exciting atoms so that they emit photons - much the same way a 
> lump of iron glows if you put it in a hot fire. (But with some mirrors 
> in there to ensure the light only travels in one direction...)

It's not the same thing at all. Laser light is very coherent, i.e. all 
the photons in it have almost the same wavelength. When you just heat 
iron you don't get that at all... And what makes it work is that the 
mirrors build a resonant optical cavity, they are not there just to give 
the direction.

-- 
Vincent


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From: M a r c
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 10:33:01
Message: <47332c2d$1@news.povray.org>
"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de news: 
473326a7$1@news.povray.org...
>
> I don't actually know how those work. I was under the impression that it 
> works by exciting atoms so that they emit photons - much the same way a 
> lump of iron glows if you put it in a hot fire. (But with some mirrors in 
> there to ensure the light only travels in one direction...)

AFAIK The optical cavity between the 2 mirrors works as a resonator or as an 
amplifier with an amount (one of the mirrors is semi-reflective to allow 
output) of reinjection of output into input.

Marc


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From: Phil Cook
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 10:37:28
Message: <op.t1hb94k2c3xi7v@news.povray.org>
And lo on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:50:34 -0000, scott <sco### [at] laptopcom> did  
spake, saying:

>> I find it rather bizare that electronic properties should actually  
>> affect optical ones, but there we are.)
>
> Well yeh, what's light?

On a more serious note can anyone explain refraction in terms of  
particles. To put it another way fit a standard double-slit experiment in  
front of a transparent block set at an angle and then detect which slit  
the photon is passing through then examine the terminus of the photon  
through the block.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com


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From: Nicolas Alvarez
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 11:23:24
Message: <473337fc@news.povray.org>
Invisible escribió:
> nemesis wrote:
> 
>> a more direct link in his own site:
>> http://www.imagico.de/pov/metamaterials.html
> 
> Woah - so you mean POV-Ray already does this *now*?
> 
> Now suddenly the subject line seems even more appropriate. ;-)

WOAH


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From: nemesis
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 14:20:01
Message: <web.4733615c4b19b3ff773c9a3e0@news.povray.org>
Nicolas Alvarez <nic### [at] gmailisthebestcom> wrote:
> Invisible escribió:
> > nemesis wrote:
> >
> >> a more direct link in his own site:
> >> http://www.imagico.de/pov/metamaterials.html
> >
> > Woah - so you mean POV-Ray already does this *now*?
> >
> > Now suddenly the subject line seems even more appropriate. ;-)
>
> WOAH

updated the "External links" section in the wikipedia article to point to the
very handy visual presentation by Hormann...


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From: St 
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 15:00:18
Message: <47336ad2$1@news.povray.org>
"Stephen" <mcavoys_AT_aolDOT.com> wrote in message 
news:web.473305e34b19b3ff726bd13c0@news.povray.org...
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>
>>
>> * Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, produce
>> light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light using
>> electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.
>>
> I thought lightning was normal at least in a storm.
>
>> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio
>> waves, but not light rays...)
>
> If you oscillate something fast enough it will heat up and emit light.

     Oh wow! When I was about 20('83), I remember borrowing a friends 
German-made echo box for my (then horrible) lecky guitar, (it was a 
*fantastic* echo box, but I can't remember what it was called), and it had 
two lime green flourescent 'beams' that met in the middle when you hit the 
sweet notes. Is that what you mean?

    (Anyway, I'm looking for loops for my old Copycat now... That's damn 
good too...)   ;)

      Sorry, just reminiscing...    ;)


         ~Steve~




>
> Stephen
>
>


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From: Tim Attwood
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 19:09:22
Message: <4733a532$1@news.povray.org>
> It's a phenomenon that has something to do with electricity, magnetism, 
> waves and particles, but nobody really understands what exactly. ;-)
>
> Specifically, light is an electromagnetic wave (or is it a subatomic 
> particle?) in a particular frequency range (or is that particle energy?) 
> that registers in our eyes due to the chemical transformations it induces 
> in certain protein groups.

E=MC^2
All matter is both mass and energy.
Photons are "packets" of energy that fluxuate between
electical potential and magnetic potential at a certain frequency,
a.k.a. an electromagnetic wave.
They have more energy than an electron.

> However, it's really damn unusual for a material's electrical or magnetic 
> properties to have any bearing at all on its optical properties.

This is a common misconception.
The color of normal objects IS an electrical property,
it is the variation in electrical conductivity at optical frequencies.

> * Impure water is an excellent conductor, while pure water is a very good 
> insulator. Yet both substances have almost identical optical properties.

Resistance in materials varies by frequency.
Both salt-water and pure water are conductive at optical frequencies.

> * Iron is highly magnetic, while aluminium isn't. Good luck telling the 
> two metals apart by their appearence!
>
> * Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, produce 
> light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light using 
> electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.

Because photons are in high frequency flux, they have both positive
and negative charge, or no DC charge (depending on
how you look at it).

> Sure, theoretically they're related. But it's not something you see in the 
> real world very often. ;-)
>
> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
> waves, but not light rays...)

Imagine three arrow vectors sitting at the origin, they point X,Y,Z,
this represents mass, electical, and magnetic.
The arrows must maintain the same overall vector length
X+Y+Z = k. However, they can fluctuate.

If a photon collides with something it regains its mass, so the
electrical and magnetic portions are gone, if the photon then
reflects it again has no mass, but electical and magnetic.

In a solar panel the photon collides, gains mass, but then at
lower frequencies it's conduductive, so only a portion is
reflected as radiation, an electron sized chunk of the energy
goes off down the wires.

As an electron is excited to high frequencies by equipment,
many of the components (like wires) have high resistance to
high frequencies.  That is why lasers use rubies, or gas tubes,
they are controlable high frequency oscilators that are still
conductive at optical frequencies.

That is also why you can fit more information down a fiber-
optic line than a copper line, fiber can operate at higher frequencies.


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 19:28:12
Message: <4733a99c$1@news.povray.org>
Alain wrote:
> A wave guide have ior <1 for radio waves. You can't find the equivalent 
> for IR and visible light.

Huh. Why not?  Just because of the size of the atoms you'd have to build 
it from or something?

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 19:30:16
Message: <4733aa18$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:
> bizare that electronic properties should actually affect optical ones, 
> but there we are.)

Actually, the only interactions that take place outside the nucleus are 
between electrons (and antielectrons, I guess) and photons, so it seems 
pretty *necessary* more than *bizarre*. :-)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?


Post a reply to this message

From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 19:34:07
Message: <4733aaff$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:
> However, it's really damn unusual for a material's electrical or 
> magnetic properties to have any bearing at all on its optical properties.

That's why mirrors made out of wood work so well, after all. :-)

> * Iron is highly magnetic, while aluminium isn't. Good luck telling the 
> two metals apart by their appearence!

Magnetism is a field of photons at a frequency you just can't see.

> * Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, produce 
> light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light using 
> electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.

Except for photoelectric effects, LEDs, solar cells, florescent light 
bulbs, all that sort of thing.

> Sure, theoretically they're related. But it's not something you see in 
> the real world very often. ;-)

Don't you use a computer? What do you think you're looking at?

> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
> waves, but not light rays...)

You can. It just has to osscilate a lot faster.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?


Post a reply to this message

From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 19:37:46
Message: <4733abda$1@news.povray.org>
M_a_r_c wrote:
> Is not a laser an excitated resonant optical cavity eg a oscillator?

No. You have to pump up the electrons into higher valences, and then 
when one photon hits, it causes the excited atom to drop the next photon 
at the same frequency and phase, because that's how the math comes out 
for photons. (It's the opposite for electrons, which is why you can't 
have more than two electrons in the same place and phase and all.)

The resonance comes from putting a mirror at each end to get the photons 
crossing the substrate more than once, so they have a better chance of 
hitting more atoms. But in theory, it would work if you just made a 
sufficiently long tube, or you could keep the atoms pumped up without 
interfering with the emmision. (The latter is what laser LEDs do, I think.)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?


Post a reply to this message

From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 19:39:11
Message: <4733ac2f$1@news.povray.org>
Vincent Le Chevalier wrote:
> And what makes it work is that the mirrors build a resonant optical cavity, 

I'm pretty sure that's not fundamental to getting the photons in phase.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?


Post a reply to this message

From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 8 Nov 2007 19:41:45
Message: <4733acc9$1@news.povray.org>
Phil Cook wrote:
> On a more serious note can anyone explain refraction in terms of 
> particles.

Yes.

http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691125759/ref=pd_bbs_1



-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?


Post a reply to this message

From: Phil Cook
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 04:04:09
Message: <op.t1iosoi6c3xi7v@news.povray.org>
And lo on Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:41:46 -0000, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> 
 

did spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>> On a more serious note can anyone explain refraction in terms of  

>> particles.
>
> Yes.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691125
759/ref=pd_bbs_1
Thanks, though I note one commentator said "The problem is that we never
  

get an explanation for why the vectors point the way the do, are rotated
  

just so, etc. Without that it's simply voodoo, and nothing has been  

explained." never mind. Amazon UK stocks it, but I'll check out my local
  

store first.

-- 

Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 04:36:13
Message: <47342a0d$1@news.povray.org>
St. wrote:

>     (Anyway, I'm looking for loops for my old Copycat now... That's damn 
> good too...)   ;)

My dad buys them from ebay.

In fact, no - he bought a reel of tape from ebay, and then bought a 
splicing kit and some tape from ebay too.

(He bought the Copycat from ebay, but the tape loop it came with was 
worn to hell. Using it results in thunderous echoy booming sounds not 
unlike Forbidden Planet...)


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 04:47:39
Message: <47342cbb$1@news.povray.org>
Darren New wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
>> However, it's really damn unusual for a material's electrical or 
>> magnetic properties to have any bearing at all on its optical properties.
> 
> That's why mirrors made out of wood work so well, after all. :-)

Well, you know, there are conductive materials that are reflective, and 
ones that aren't. There are insulators that are reflective, and ones 
that aren't. There seems to be little correlation here.

>> * Iron is highly magnetic, while aluminium isn't. Good luck telling 
>> the two metals apart by their appearence!
> 
> Magnetism is a field of photons at a frequency you just can't see.

What an interesting concept...

>> * Electricity does not, under any remotely "normal" conditions, 
>> produce light or affect it in any way. (E.g., you can't bend light 
>> using electricity.) The same goes for magnetism.
> 
> Except for photoelectric effects, LEDs, solar cells, florescent light 
> bulbs, all that sort of thing.

Solar cells work by using strange chemistry rather than directly turning 
light into electricity. (Presumably that's why they're so inefficient.)

Florescent light bulbs work by stimulating atoms to release photons, not 
by directly turning electric oscilations into light.

I have no clue why LEDs work. But apparently they do. ;-)

> Don't you use a computer? What do you think you're looking at?

Electricity can be used to excite atoms in such a way that they release 
photons. So can heat energy, chemical energy, and all kinds of other 
energy. It's hardly unique to electricity. Basically if you get atoms 
excited enough, they glow.

>> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
>> waves, but not light rays...)
> 
> You can. It just has to osscilate a lot faster.

I think I've found an answer for this one.

   frequency = velocity / wavelength

For light, the velocity varies a little, but it's roughly 300,000 km/s. 
That means that even if each wave is 1 km long (pretty damn long wave!), 
it's going to have a frequency of 300 kHz. If you make that wave 1 m 
long, that becomes 300 MHz, and by the time you get down to an utterly 
*microscopic* wavelength, you're well above the THz range.

AFAIK, nobody has ever made an oscilator that goes that fast... (Indeed, 
maybe there's even a quantum-mechanical reason why you *can't* do this? 
Don't electrons have a "frequency" after all?)

So it seems that unless you can find a material with an index of 
refraction of several thousand, you aren't going to make light with an 
electric oscilator.


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 04:49:59
Message: <47342d47@news.povray.org>
Darren New wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
>> bizare that electronic properties should actually affect optical ones, 
>> but there we are.)
> 
> Actually, the only interactions that take place outside the nucleus are 
> between electrons (and antielectrons, I guess) and photons, so it seems 
> pretty *necessary* more than *bizarre*. :-)

Well, sure, at quantum scales perhaps. At macroscopic scales? Well, 
let's put it this way: there's no simple, easily observable correlation 
between these variables in everyday life. I'm not denying that whoever 
wrote this thing knew what they were talking about...


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From: Nicolas Alvarez
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 09:39:59
Message: <4734713f@news.povray.org>
Invisible escribió:
> For light, the velocity varies a little, but it's roughly 300,000 km/s. 
> That means that even if each wave is 1 km long (pretty damn long wave!), 
> it's going to have a frequency of 300 kHz. If you make that wave 1 m 
> long, that becomes 300 MHz, and by the time you get down to an utterly 
> *microscopic* wavelength, you're well above the THz range.

Wikipedia article on "color" has a list of wavelengths and frequencies 
for the different colors. Red is ~630–700 nm, ~480–430 THz.


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From: Gail Shaw
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 10:13:47
Message: <4734792b@news.povray.org>
"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
news:47342cbb$1@news.povray.org...
> For light, the velocity varies a little, but it's roughly 300,000 km/s.

Ur, no. The speed of light in a vacuum doesn't vary at all. It's a universal
constant.

299 792 458 m.s^-1


Post a reply to this message

From: Nicolas Alvarez
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 10:19:06
Message: <47347a6a$1@news.povray.org>
Gail Shaw escribió:
> "Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
> news:47342cbb$1@news.povray.org...
>> For light, the velocity varies a little, but it's roughly 300,000 km/s.
> 
> Ur, no. The speed of light in a vacuum doesn't vary at all. It's a universal
> constant.
> 
> 299 792 458 m.s^-1

...

How the HECK did they measure that o_O


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 10:21:57
Message: <47347b15$1@news.povray.org>
Gail Shaw wrote:
> "Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
> news:47342cbb$1@news.povray.org...
>> For light, the velocity varies a little, but it's roughly 300,000 km/s.
> 
> Ur, no. The speed of light in a vacuum doesn't vary at all. It's a universal
> constant.
> 
> 299 792 458 m.s^-1

Yes, the speed of light *in a vacuum* doesn't vary.

The speed of light in other mediums varies though. ;-)


Post a reply to this message

From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 10:23:00
Message: <47347b54@news.povray.org>
Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> Gail Shaw escribió:
>> 299 792 458 m.s^-1
> 
> ...
> 
> How the HECK did they measure that o_O

With lots of mirrors, as a guess...


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From: Mueen Nawaz
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 10:28:13
Message: <47347c8d$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:
> It's a phenomenon that has something to do with electricity, magnetism, 
> waves and particles, but nobody really understands what exactly. ;-)

	Actually, I'm sure physicists believe they understand electricity and 
magnetism to the letter. They consider the theory to be complete (and 
have for ages). So they'd probably disagree with you there.

> Specifically, light is an electromagnetic wave (or is it a subatomic 
> particle?) in a particular frequency range (or is that particle energy?) 
> that registers in our eyes due to the chemical transformations it 
> induces in certain protein groups.

	For a single photon, frequency is proportional to energy. A photon has 
both wave and particle properties, as does your finger, and just about 
anything else in the world. May be hard to fathom, but it's not unique 
to light.

> (I still can't figure out why you can use an oscilator to make radio 
> waves, but not light rays...)

	Just needs to oscillate at the frequency of light - I have no idea if 
it's practical, though.

-- 
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person 
who doesn't get it.


                     /\  /\               /\  /
                    /  \/  \ u e e n     /  \/  a w a z
                        >>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
                                    anl


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From: Mueen Nawaz
Subject: Re: Surprise!
Date: 9 Nov 2007 10:30:37
Message: <47347d1d$1@news.povray.org>
Darren New wrote:
> Magnetism is a field of photons at a frequency you just can't see.

???

-- 
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person 
who doesn't get it.


                     /\  /\               /\  /
                    /  \/  \ u e e n     /  \/  a w a z
                        >>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
                                    anl


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