Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

In Situ Measurement of Vacuum Window Birefringence using 25Mg+ Fluorescence
Published on: June 13, 2020
A Window to the World of Negative Refraction
Abstract:
Metamaterials characterized by a negative refractive index are being the object of intense research across a broad range of fields, from mathematics and physics to photonics and engineering. Nonetheless, the development of materials exhibiting this property in the visible spectral domain remains challenging. This situation, along with their potential transformative role in new technological advances, has motivated the scientific community to instrumentally employ computer graphics software to visually explore their interactions with light. In this work, we contribute to the initiatives in this area by describing a white-box methodology aimed at the physically-based simulation and visualization of optical phenomena elicited by these materials. We demonstrate its suitability to applications, both within and outside computer graphics, through the rendering of images depicting these phenomena under different optical scenarios.
Related Concept Videos
Interference and Diffraction
Focusing of Light in the Eye
Influence of Earth's Curvature and Atmospheric Refraction on Leveling
Reflection of Waves
Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

