birefringence
/baɪɹɪˈfɹɪnd͡ʒəns/
birefringence noun: the splitting of a ray of light into two parallel rays of perpendicular polarization by passage through an optically anisotropic medium; the property of a material that light passing through it is so split.
Noun
birefringence (countable and uncountable, plural birefringences)
- The splitting of a ray of light into two parallel rays of perpendicular polarization by passage through an optically anisotropic medium; the property of a material that light passing through it is so split.
- In figure 6, the birefringence, δ, for 2H, 4H, 6H, and 15R is plotted as a function of wavelength.1972, J. Anthony Powell, Refractive Index and Birefringence of 2H Silicon Carbide, page 13
- This means that, in contrast to the relaxation after steady shear flow, one has actually to expect that there will be a significant difference in the speeds of relaxation of birefringence and recoverable shear like the difference suggested by the courses of curves I and II of Fig.4.1.1983, Hermann Janeschitz-Kriegl, Polymer Melt Rheology and Flow Birefringence, Springer, page 424
- Synonyms:
- birefraction, birefractivity, double refraction
birefringence meaning in Tamil, Indonesian and Vietnamese
birefringence in Tamil
- இரட்டை ஒளிப்பிரிகை
birefringence in Indonesian
- the splitting of a ray of light into two parallel rays of perpendicular polarization
- dwibiasan
birefringence in Vietnamese
- the splitting of a ray of light into two parallel rays of perpendicular polarization
- lưỡng chiết
Synonyms of birefringence
- birefraction
- birefractivity
- double refraction
Forms of birefringence
| plural | birefringences |
|---|
Origin of birefringence
From bi- + refringence.
Words formed from birefringence
Questions about birefringence
- What does birefringence mean?
- Birefringence means the splitting of a ray of light into two parallel rays of perpendicular polarization by passage through an optically anisotropic medium; the property of a material that light passing through it is so split.
- What is birefringence in Tamil?
- Birefringence in Tamil is இரட்டை ஒளிப்பிரிகை. See Birefringence meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is birefringence?
- Birefringence is a noun.
- How do you pronounce birefringence?
- Birefringence is pronounced /baɪɹɪˈfɹɪnd͡ʒəns/.
- What is the plural of birefringence?
- The plural of birefringence is birefringences.
Words near birefringence in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: birefringence (page history and authors); birefringence (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-birefringence.wav.
Cite this entry: “birefringence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/birefringence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.