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A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer
Polarizer

A polarizer is a device that converts an polarization or mixed-polarization beam of electromagnetic waves into a beam with a single polarization state ....
, an optical device used to generate a beam of polarized light
Polarization

Polarization is a property of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. For transverse waves such as many electromagnetic waves, it describes the orientation of the oscillations in the plane perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel....
. It was the first type of polarizing prism
Prism (optics)

In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refraction light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application....
 to be invented, in 1828 by William Nicol (1770-1851) of Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
. It consists of a rhombohedral crystal of calcite
Calcite

Calcite is a Carbonate minerals and the most stable Polymorphism of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite....
 (Iceland spar) that has been cut at a 68° angle, split diagonally, and then joined again using Canada balsam
Canada balsam

Canada balsam, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir, is a turpentine which is made from the resin of the Abies balsamea tree ....
.

Unpolarized light enters one end of the crystal and is split into two polarized rays by birefringence
Birefringence

Birefringence, or double refraction, is the decomposition of a Ray of light into two rays when it passes through certain types of material, such as calcite crystals or boron nitride, depending on the polarization of the light....
.






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Nicol Prism
A Nicol prism is a type of polarizer
Polarizer

A polarizer is a device that converts an polarization or mixed-polarization beam of electromagnetic waves into a beam with a single polarization state ....
, an optical device used to generate a beam of polarized light
Polarization

Polarization is a property of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. For transverse waves such as many electromagnetic waves, it describes the orientation of the oscillations in the plane perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel....
. It was the first type of polarizing prism
Prism (optics)

In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refraction light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application....
 to be invented, in 1828 by William Nicol (1770-1851) of Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
. It consists of a rhombohedral crystal of calcite
Calcite

Calcite is a Carbonate minerals and the most stable Polymorphism of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite....
 (Iceland spar) that has been cut at a 68° angle, split diagonally, and then joined again using Canada balsam
Canada balsam

Canada balsam, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir, is a turpentine which is made from the resin of the Abies balsamea tree ....
.

Unpolarized light enters one end of the crystal and is split into two polarized rays by birefringence
Birefringence

Birefringence, or double refraction, is the decomposition of a Ray of light into two rays when it passes through certain types of material, such as calcite crystals or boron nitride, depending on the polarization of the light....
. One of these rays (the ordinary or o-ray) experiences a refractive index
Refractive index

The refractive index of a medium is a measure for how much the speed of light is reduced inside the medium. For example, typical soda-lime glass has a refractive index of 1.5, which means that in glass, light travels at times the speed of light in a vacuum....
 of no = 1.658 and at the balsam layer (refractive index n = 1.55) undergoes total internal reflection
Total internal reflection

Total internal reflection is an optical phenomenon that occurs when a ray of light strikes a medium boundary at an angle larger than the critical angle with respect to the normal to the surface....
 at the interface, and is reflected to the side of the prism. The other ray (the extraordinary or e-ray) experiences a lower refractive index (ne = 1.486), is not reflected at the interface, and leaves through the second half of the prism
Prism (optics)

In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refraction light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application....
 as plane polarized light.

Nicol prisms were once widely used in microscopy
Microscopy

Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples or objects. There are three well-known branches of microscopy, optical microscopy, electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopy....
 and polarimetry, and the term "crossed Nicols" (abbreviated as XN) is still used to refer to observation of a sample between orthogonally orientated polarizers. In most instruments, however, Nicol prisms have been supplanted by other types of polarizers such as Polaroid
Polaroid

Polaroid is the name of a type of synthetic plastic sheet which is used to polarization light....
 sheets and Glan–Thompson prisms.

See also

  • Wollaston prism
    Wollaston prism

    A Wollaston prism is an optical device, invented by William Hyde Wollaston, that manipulates Polarization light. It separates randomly polarized or unpolarized light into two Orthogonality, linearly polarizer outgoing beams....
  • Nomarski prism
    Nomarski prism

    A Nomarski prism is a modification of the Wollaston prism, which is used in differential interference contrast microscopy. The Poland physicist Georges Nomarski contributed to the development of Differential Interference Contrast microscopy, by developing the Nomarski prism....
  • Glan–Thompson prism
  • Glan–Foucault prism