Optical thickness

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Optical thickness is the depth of a material or medium in which the intensity of light (or other radiation) of a given frequency is reduced by a factor of 1 / e. In rough terms 1/3 of the light is absorbed within one optical thickness depth.

This describes how quickly light is absorbed within a material. The intensity of light remaining can be calculated by the formula:

I_{x,\lambda} = I_{0,\lambda} e^{-x/\sigma_\lambda}\ ,

where σλ is the optical thickness for the material at wavelength λ.

The optical thickness of a material is different for each wavelength of light, and sometimes varies with other factors such as temperature.

Compare to mean free path.

[edit] See also


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