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Dispersion
Dispersion (optics)
1
Dispersion (optics)
This article is about dispersion of waves in optics. For other forms of dispersion, see Dispersion (disambiguation).
In a dispersive prism, material dispersion (a
wavelength-dependent refractive index) causes
different colors to refract at different angles,
splitting white light into a rainbow.
A compact fluorescent lamp seen through an
Amici prism
In optics, dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of
a wave depends on its frequency, or equivalently when the group
velocity depends on the frequency. Media having such a property are
termed dispersive media. Dispersion is sometimes called chromatic
dispersion to emphasize its wavelength-dependent nature, or
group-velocity dispersion (GVD) to emphasize the role of the group
velocity. Dispersion is most often described for light waves, but it may
occur for any kind of wave that interacts with a medium or passes
through an inhomogeneous geometry (e.g., a waveguide), such as
sound waves. A material's dispersion for optical wavelengths is
measured by its Abbe number, V, with low Abbe numbers
corresponding to strong dispersion.
Examples of dispersion
The most familiar example of dispersion is probably a rainbow, in
which dispersion causes the spatial separation of a white light into
components of different wavelengths (different colors). However,
dispersion also has an effect in many other circumstances: for example,
GVD causes pulses to spread in optical fibers, degrading signals over
long distances; also, a cancellation between group-velocity dispersion
and nonlinear effects leads to soliton waves.
Sources of dispersion
There are generally two sources of dispersion: material dispersion and waveguide dispersion. Material dispersion
comes from a frequency-dependent response of a material to waves. For example, material dispersion leads to
undesired chromatic aberration in a lens or the separation of colors in a prism. Waveguide dispersion occurs when
the speed of a wave in a waveguide (such as an optical fiber) depends on its frequency for geometric reasons,
independent of any frequency dependence of the materials from which it is constructed. More generally,
"waveguide" dispersion can occur for waves propagating through any inhomogeneous structure (e.g., a photonic
crystal), whether or not the waves are confined to some region. In general, both types of dispersion may be present,
although they are not strictly additive. Their combination leads to signal degradation in optical fibers used for
telecommunications, because the varying delay in arrival time between different components of a signal "smears out"
the signal in time.
Dispersion (optics)
2
Material dispersion in optics
The variation of refractive index vs. vacuum wavelength for various glasses. The
wavelengths of visible light are shaded in yellow.
Influences of selected glass component additions on the mean dispersion of a specific
base glass (n
F
valid for = 486 nm (blue), n
C
valid for = 656 nm (red))
[1]
Material dispersion can be a desirable
or undesirable effect in optical
applications. The dispersion of light by
glass prisms is used to construct
spectrometers and spectroradiometers.
Holographic gratings are also used, as
they allow more accurate discrimination
of wavelengths. However, in lenses,
dispersion causes chromatic aberration,
an undesired effect that may degrade
images in microscopes, telescopes and
photographic objectives.
The phase velocity, v, of a wave in a
given uniform medium is given by
where c is the speed of light in a
vacuum and n is the refractive index of
the medium.
In general, the refractive index is some
function of the frequency f of the light,
thus n = n(f), or alternatively, with
respect to the wave's wavelength n =
n(). The wavelength dependence of a
material's refractive index is usually
quantified by its Abbe number or its
coefficients in an empirical formula
such as the Cauchy or Sellmeier
equations.
Because of the KramersKronig
relations, the wavelength dependence of
the real part of the refractive index is
related to the material absorption,
described by the imaginary part of the
refractive index (also called the
extinction coefficient). In particular, for non-magnetic materials (=
0
), the susceptibility that appears in the
KramersKronig relations is the electric susceptibility .
The most commonly seen consequence of dispersion in optics is the separation of white light into a color spectrum
by a prism. From Snell's law it can be seen that the angle of refraction of light in a prism depends on the refractive
index of the prism material. Since that refractive index varies with wavelength, it follows that the angle that the light
is refracted by will also vary with wavelength, causing an angular separation of the colors known as angular
dispersion.
For visible light, refraction indices n of most transparent materials (e.g., air, glasses) decrease with increasing
wavelength :
Dispersion (optics)
3
or alternatively:
In this case, the medium is said to have normal dispersion. Whereas, if the index increases with increasing
wavelength (which is typically the caseWikipedia:Citation needed for X-rays), the medium is said to have
anomalous dispersion.
At the interface of such a material with air or vacuum (index of ~1), Snell's law predicts that light incident at an
angle to the normal will be refracted at an angle arcsin(sin()/n). Thus, blue light, with a higher refractive index,
will be bent more strongly than red light, resulting in the well-known rainbow pattern.
Group and phase velocity
Another consequence of dispersion manifests itself as a temporal effect. The formula v = c / n calculates the phase
velocity of a wave; this is the velocity at which the phase of any one frequency component of the wave will
propagate. This is not the same as the group velocity of the wave, that is the rate at which changes in amplitude
(known as the envelope of the wave) will propagate. For a homogeneous medium, the group velocity v
g
is related to
the phase velocity v by (here is the wavelength in vacuum, not in the medium):
The group velocity v
g
is often thought of as the velocity at which energy or information is conveyed along the wave.
In most cases this is true, and the group velocity can be thought of as the signal velocity of the waveform. In some
unusual circumstances, called cases of anomalous dispersion, the rate of change of the index of refraction with
respect to the wavelength changes sign (becoming positive), in which case it is possible for the group velocity to
exceed the speed of light (v
g
> c). Anomalous dispersion occurs, for instance, where the wavelength of the light is
close to an absorption resonance of the medium. When the dispersion is anomalous, however, group velocity is no
longer an indicator of signal velocity. Instead, a signal travels at the speed of the wavefront, which is c irrespective
of the index of refraction.
[2]
Recently, it has become possible to create gases in which the group velocity is not only
larger than the speed of light, but even negative. In these cases, a pulse can appear to exit a medium before it enters.
Even in these cases, however, a signal travels at, or less than, the speed of light, as demonstrated by Stenner, et al.
The group velocity itself is usually a function of the wave's frequency. This results in group velocity dispersion
(GVD), which causes a short pulse of light to spread in time as a result of different frequency components of the
pulse travelling at different velocities. GVD is often quantified as the group delay dispersion parameter (again, this
formula is for a uniform medium only):
If D is less than zero, the medium is said to have positive dispersion. If D is greater than zero, the medium has
negative dispersion. If a light pulse is propagated through a normally dispersive medium, the result is the higher
frequency components travel slower than the lower frequency components. The pulse therefore becomes positively
chirped, or up-chirped, increasing in frequency with time. Conversely, if a pulse travels through an anomalously
dispersive medium, high frequency components travel faster than the lower ones, and the pulse becomes negatively
chirped, or down-chirped, decreasing in frequency with time.
The result of GVD, whether negative or positive, is ultimately temporal spreading of the pulse. This makes
dispersion management extremely important in optical communications systems based on optical fiber, since if
dispersion is too high, a group of pulses representing a bit-stream will spread in time and merge, rendering the
bit-stream unintelligible. This limits the length of fiber that a signal can be sent down without regeneration. One
Dispersion (optics)
4
possible answer to this problem is to send signals down the optical fibre at a wavelength where the GVD is zero
(e.g., around 1.31.5 m in silica fibres), so pulses at this wavelength suffer minimal spreading from dispersionin
practice, however, this approach causes more problems than it solves because zero GVD unacceptably amplifies
other nonlinear effects (such as four wave mixing). Another possible option is to use soliton pulses in the regime of
anomalous dispersion, a form of optical pulse which uses a nonlinear optical effect to self-maintain its
shapesolitons have the practical problem, however, that they require a certain power level to be maintained in the
pulse for the nonlinear effect to be of the correct strength. Instead, the solution that is currently used in practice is to
perform dispersion compensation, typically by matching the fiber with another fiber of opposite-sign dispersion so
that the dispersion effects cancel; such compensation is ultimately limited by nonlinear effects such as self-phase
modulation, which interact with dispersion to make it very difficult to undo.
Dispersion control is also important in lasers that produce short pulses. The overall dispersion of the optical
resonator is a major factor in determining the duration of the pulses emitted by the laser. A pair of prisms can be
arranged to produce net negative dispersion, which can be used to balance the usually positive dispersion of the laser
medium. Diffraction gratings can also be used to produce dispersive effects; these are often used in high-power laser
amplifier systems. Recently, an alternative to prisms and gratings has been developed: chirped mirrors. These
dielectric mirrors are coated so that different wavelengths have different penetration lengths, and therefore different
group delays. The coating layers can be tailored to achieve a net negative dispersion.
Dispersion in waveguides
Optical fibers, which are used in telecommunications, are among the most abundant types of waveguides. Dispersion
in these fibers is one of the limiting factors that determine how much data can be transported on a single fiber.
The transverse modes for waves confined laterally within a waveguide generally have different speeds (and field
patterns) depending upon their frequency (that is, on the relative size of the wave, the wavelength) compared to the
size of the waveguide.
In general, for a waveguide mode with an angular frequency () at a propagation constant (so that the
electromagnetic fields in the propagation direction (z) oscillate proportional to ), the group-velocity
dispersion parameter D is defined as:
[3]
where is the vacuum wavelength and is the group velocity. This formula generalizes
the one in the previous section for homogeneous media, and includes both waveguide dispersion and material
dispersion. The reason for defining the dispersion in this way is that |D| is the (asymptotic) temporal pulse spreading
per unit bandwidth per unit distance travelled, commonly reported in ps/nmkm for optical fibers.
A similar effect due to a somewhat different phenomenon is modal dispersion, caused by a waveguide having
multiple modes at a given frequency, each with a different speed. A special case of this is polarization mode
dispersion (PMD), which comes from a superposition of two modes that travel at different speeds due to random
imperfections that break the symmetry of the waveguide. Modal dispersion can also be used to generate large,
tunable group delay dispersion in a compact footprint using chromo-modal dispersion.
[4]
Dispersion (optics)
5
Higher-order dispersion over broad bandwidths
When a broad range of frequencies (a broad bandwidth) is present in a single wavepacket, such as in an ultrashort
pulse or a chirped pulse or other forms of spread spectrum transmission, it may not be accurate to approximate the
dispersion by a constant over the entire bandwidth, and more complex calculations are required to compute effects
such as pulse spreading.
In particular, the dispersion parameter D defined above is obtained from only one derivative of the group velocity.
Higher derivatives are known as higher-order dispersion.
[5]
These terms are simply a Taylor series expansion of the
dispersion relation of the medium or waveguide around some particular frequency. Their effects can be
computed via numerical evaluation of Fourier transforms of the waveform, via integration of higher-order slowly
varying envelope approximations, by a split-step method (which can use the exact dispersion relation rather than a
Taylor series), or by direct simulation of the full Maxwell's equations rather than an approximate envelope equation.
Dispersion in gemology
Dispersion values of minerals
Name BG CF
Cinnabar (HgS) 0.40
Synth. rutile 0.330 0.190
Rutile (TiO
2
) 0.280 0.1200.180
Anatase (TiO
2
) 0.2130.259
Wulfenite 0.203 0.133
Vanadinite 0.202
Fabulite 0.190 0.109
Sphalerite (ZnS) 0.156 0.088
Sulfur (S) 0.155
Stibiotantalite 0.146
Goethite (FeO(OH)) 0.14
Brookite (TiO
2
) 0.131 0.121.80
Zincite (ZnO) 0.127
Linobate 0.13 0.075
Synth. moissanite (SiC) 0.104
Cassiterite (SnO
2
) 0.071 0.035
Zirconia (ZrO
2
) 0.060 0.035
Powellite (CaMoO
4
) 0.058
Andradite 0.057
Demantoid 0.057 0.034
Cerussite 0.055 0.0330.050
Titanite 0.051 0.0190.038
Benitoite 0.046 0.026
Anglesite 0.044 0.025
Diamond (C) 0.044 0.025
Dispersion (optics)
6
Flint glass 0.041
Hyacinth 0.039
Jargoon 0.039
Starlite 0.039
Zircon (ZrSiO
4
) 0.039 0.022
GGG 0.038 0.022
Scheelite 0.038 0.026
Dioptase 0.036 0.021
Whewellite 0.034
Alabaster 0.033
Gypsum 0.033 0.008
Epidote 0.03 0.0120.027
Achroite 0.017
Cordierite 0.017 0.009
Danburite 0.017 0.009
Dravite 0.017
Elbaite 0.017
Herderite 0.017 0.0080.009
Hiddenite 0.017 0.010
Indicolite 0.017
Liddicoatite 0.017
Kunzite 0.017 0.010
Rubellite 0.017 0.0080.009
Schorl 0.017
Scapolite 0.017
Spodumene 0.017 0.010
Tourmaline 0.017 0.0090.011
Verdelite 0.017
Andalusite 0.016 0.009
Baryte (BaSO
4
) 0.016 0.009
Euclase 0.016 0.009
Alexandrite 0.015 0.011
Chrysoberyl 0.015 0.011
Hambergite 0.015 0.0090.010
Phenakite 0.01 0.009
Rhodochrosite 0.015 0.0100.020
Sillimanite 0.015 0.0090.012
Smithsonite 0.0140.031 0.0080.017
Amblygonite 0.0140.015 0.008
Dispersion (optics)
7
Aquamarine 0.014 0.0090.013
Beryl 0.014 0.0090.013
Brazilianite 0.014 0.008
Celestine 0.014 0.008
Goshenite 0.014
Heliodor 0.014 0.0090.013
Morganite 0.014 0.0090.013
Pyroxmangite 0.015
Synth. scheelite 0.015
Dolomite 0.013
Magnesite (MgCO
3
) 0.012
Synth. emerald 0.012
Synth. alexandrite 0.011
Synth. sapphire (Al
2
O
3
) 0.011
Phosphophyllite 0.0100.011
Enstatite 0.010
Anorthite 0.0090.010
Actinolite 0.009
Jeremejevite 0.009
Nepheline 0.0080.009
Apophyllite 0.008
Hauyne 0.008
Natrolite 0.008
Synth. quartz (SiO
2
) 0.008
Aragonite 0.0070.012
Augelite 0.007
Tanzanite 0.030 0.011
Thulite 0.03 0.011
Zoisite 0.03
YAG 0.028 0.015
Almandine 0.027 0.0130.016
Hessonite 0.027 0.0130.015
Spessartine 0.027 0.015
Uvarovite 0.027 0.0140.021
Willemite 0.027
Pleonaste 0.026
Rhodolite 0.026
Boracite 0.024 0.012
Cryolite 0.024
Dispersion (optics)
8
Staurolite 0.023 0.0120.013
Pyrope 0.022 0.0130.016
Diaspore 0.02
Grossular 0.020 0.012
Hemimorphite 0.020 0.013
Kyanite 0.020 0.011
Peridot 0.020 0.0120.013
Spinel 0.020 0.011
Vesuvianite 0.0190.025 0.014
Clinozoisite 0.019 0.0110.014
Labradorite 0.019 0.010
Axinite 0.0180.020 0.011
Ekanite 0.018 0.012
Kornerupine 0.018 0.010
Corundum (Al
2
O
3
) 0.018 0.011
Rhodizite 0.018
Ruby (Al
2
O
3
) 0.018 0.011
Sapphire (Al
2
O
3
) 0.018 0.011
Sinhalite 0.018 0.010
Sodalite 0.018 0.009
Synth. corundum 0.018 0.011
Diopside 0.0180.020 0.01
Emerald 0.014 0.0090.013
Topaz 0.014 0.008
Amethyst (SiO
2
) 0.013 0.008
Anhydrite 0.013
Apatite 0.013 0.010
Apatite 0.013 0.008
Aventurine 0.013 0.008
Citrine 0.013 0.008
Morion 0.013
Prasiolite 0.013 0.008
Quartz (SiO
2
) 0.013 0.008
Smoky quartz (SiO
2
) 0.013 0.008
Rose quartz (SiO
2
) 0.013 0.008
Albite 0.012
Bytownite 0.012
Feldspar 0.012 0.008
Moonstone 0.012 0.008
Dispersion (optics)
9
Orthoclase 0.012 0.008
Pollucite 0.012 0.007
Sanidine 0.012
Sunstone 0.012
Beryllonite 0.010 0.007
Cancrinite 0.010 0.0080.009
Leucite 0.010 0.008
Obsidian 0.010
Strontianite 0.0080.028
Calcite (CaCO
3
) 0.0080.017 0.0130.014
Fluorite (CaF
2
) 0.007 0.004
Hematite 0.500
Synth. cassiterite (SnO
2
) 0.041
Gahnite 0.0190.021
Datolite 0.016
Tremolite 0.0060.007
In the technical terminology of gemology, dispersion is the difference in the refractive index of a material at the B
and G (686.7 nm and 430.8nm) or C and F (656.3nm and 486.1nm) Fraunhofer wavelengths, and is meant to
express the degree to which a prism cut from the gemstone shows "fire", or color. Dispersion is a material property.
Fire depends on the dispersion, the cut angles, the lighting environment, the refractive index, and the viewer.
Dispersion in imaging
In photographic and microscopic lenses, dispersion causes chromatic aberration, which causes the different colors in
the image not to overlap properly. Various techniques have been developed to counteract this, such as the use of
achromats, multielement lenses with glasses of different dispersion. They are constructed in such a way that the
chromatic aberrations of the different parts cancel out.
Dispersion in pulsar timing
Pulsars are spinning neutron stars that emit pulses at very regular intervals ranging from milliseconds to seconds.
Astronomers believe that the pulses are emitted simultaneously over a wide range of frequencies. However, as
observed on Earth, the components of each pulse emitted at higher radio frequencies arrive before those emitted at
lower frequencies. This dispersion occurs because of the ionized component of the interstellar medium, mainly the
free electrons, which make the group velocity frequency dependent. The extra delay added at a frequency is
where the dispersion constant is given by
,
and the dispersion measure DM is the column density of electrons i.e. the number density of electrons
(electrons/cm
3
) integrated along the path traveled by the photon from the pulsar to the Earth and is given by
Dispersion (optics)
10
with units of parsecs per cubic centimetre (1pc/cm
3
= 30.85710
21
m
2
).
[6]
Typically for astronomical observations, this delay cannot be measured directly, since the emission time is unknown.
What can be measured is the difference in arrival times at two different frequencies. The delay between a high
frequency and a low frequency component of a pulse will be
Re-writing the above equation in terms of DM allows one to determine the DM by measuring pulse arrival times at
multiple frequencies. This in turn can be used to study the interstellar medium, as well as allow for observations of
pulsars at different frequencies to be combined.
References
[1] Calculation of the Mean Dispersion of Glasses (http:/ / glassproperties. com/ dispersion/ )
[2] [2] Brillouin, Lon. Wave Propagation and Group Velocity. (Academic Press: San Diego, 1960). See esp. Ch. 2 by A. Sommerfeld.
[3] Rajiv Ramaswami and Kumar N. Sivarajan, Optical Networks: A Practical Perspective (Academic Press: London 1998).
[4] [4] E.D. Diebold et al., "Giant tunable optical dispersion using chromo-modal excitation of a multimode waveguide," Optics Express 19 (24)
2011
[5] Chromatic Dispersion (http:/ / www. rp-photonics. com/ chromatic_dispersion. html), Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology (Wiley,
2008).
[6] Lorimer, D.R., and Kramer, M., Handbook of Pulsar Astronomy, vol. 4 of Cambridge Observing Handbooks for Research Astronomers,
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.; New York, U.S.A, 2005), 1st edition.
External links
Dispersive Wiki (http:/ / wiki. math. toronto. edu/ DispersiveWiki/ index. php/ Main_Page) discussing the
mathematical aspects of dispersion.
Dispersion (http:/ / www. rp-photonics. com/ dispersion. html) Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology
Animations demonstrating optical dispersion (http:/ / qed. wikina. org/ dispersion/ ) by QED
Interactive webdemo for chromatic dispersion (http:/ / webdemo. inue. uni-stuttgart. de/ webdemos/ 02_lectures/
uebertragungstechnik_2/ chromatic_dispersion/ ) Institute of Telecommunications, University of Stuttgart
Article Sources and Contributors
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