28 Dispersion

Contents
28.1 Normal dispersion

28.2 Anomalous Dispersion

28.3 Elementary theory of dispersion

Keywords: Normal dispersion, Anomalous dispersion, Absorption.

Ref: M. Born and E. Wolf: Principles of Optics; R.S. Longhurst: Geometri-

cal And Physical Optics; A. Sommerfeld: Optics.

28.1 Normal dispersion

When a white light (eg. sunlight, or light from an incandescent lamp) is

passed through a prism we observe colour separation. Light being electro-

magnetic oscillations, the different colours have different wavelengths and

different frequencies in vacuum for all of them move with the same speed c.

Our eyes sense(map) different wavelengths of visible spectrum with differ-

ent colours. The separation happens because the different wavelengths have

different refractive indices. Whenever light enters a dielectric medium this

separation happens and the phenomenon is known as dispersion. In simple

term it the variation of refractive index with the wavelength. In other words
2 28 Dispersion

the variation of the frequency with the wavelength in a medium is dispersion.

Cauchy studied dispersion and gave a formula which described the dispersion

in the visible range quite well. The following formula is known as Cauchy’s

dispersion formula,
B C
n(λ) = A + + , (28.1)
λ2 λ4
where A, B and C are constants which depend on the medium. Experimen-

tally the constants can be determined be measuring the the refractive index

for three wavelengths. In usual condition the first two terms would suffice to

give an accurate value of n. The derivative of the refractive index is given by

dn B
=− 3 (28.2)
dλ λ

to a good accuracy. Since A and B both are positive the refractive index

decreases increasing the wavelength.

Problem 1: Suppose nviolet = 1.60, ngreen = 1.53, and nred = 1.50, draw the

dispersion curve in the visible range, (i.e. wavelength in a range 4000Å to

7000Å), [ λviolet = 4000Å, λgreen 5500Å and λred 7000Å].

28.2 Anomalous Dispersion

For material transparent to visible region Cauchy’s formula works very well

but if one further increases the wavelength say to the infra-red, one finds the

refractive index suddenly decreases very fast and does not obey the Cauchy’s

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28.2 Anomalous Dispersion 3

law. One now approaches the absorption region. Further increasing the

wavelength once again refractive index becomes large. Again the behaviour

is quite similar to the visible region for the increase in wavelength. If the range

is increased further one again observes another absorption band as shown in

the figure (28.1) below. The pattern may repeat further as shown, giving

many absorption bands. This dispersion is known as anomalous dispersion.

Refractive Index (n)

Visible Absoption Bands

Wavelength ( λ )

Fig. 28.1: Normal and anomalous dispersion

The first theory of it came from Sellmeier who assumed that all elastically

bound particles in the medium oscillate with a natural frequency ω0 which

correspond to a wavelength λ0 in the vacuum. Sellmeir, formula gave,

2 Aλ2
n =1+ 2 , (28.3)
λ − λ20

where A is a constant. If one is away from λ0 it can be expanded in powers

of λ0 /λ and one would get a formula of the Cauchy type (28.1).

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4 28 Dispersion

Problem 2: Obtain Cauchy constants A, B and C in terms of Sellmeier

constants A and λ20 .

To explain many absorption bands one has to assume different species of

electrons with different natural frequencies ωj corresponding to wavelengths

λj in the substance and then

X Aj λ2
2
n =1+ 2 − λ2
. (28.4)
j
λ j

28.3 Elementary theory of dispersion

We will now see the effect of dispersion when an electromagnetic field incident

on a dielectric. In chapter 3 we have seen that for the LIH we can write,

D = ǫE, (28.5)

The equation (28.5) is further written in the following way

D = ǫ0 E = ǫ0 E + P = ǫ0 (1 + χ)E. (28.6)

The vector P(= ǫ0 χE) is called the Polarisation vector and is assumed to be

linearly proportional to the electric field. The factor χ is called the electric

susceptibility of the substance and the factor (1 + χ) = ǫr is nothing but the

relative permittivity or the dielectric constant introduced in chapter 3 earlier.

When an electric field is applied to a substance electrons of the molecules of

that substance are displaced from there mean position as shown in the fig.

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28.3 Elementary theory of dispersion 5

(28.2). The electron does not leave the molecule as it is bound to it by some

force. In this situation we say the substance is polarised. The polarisation is

measured by the quantity P, the net dipole moment per unit volume. If one

has N such electrons per unit volume of that substance, polarisation is given

by

P = −N ex (28.7)

where x is the displacement of the electron from its mean position as shown

in the figure. Where we are assuming implicitly that the field applied is along

the positive-x direction. The negative sign comes due to the negative charge

of the electron and hence the displacement is along the negative-x direction.

If the electron is little bit displaced from its mean position and left it would

E
e−
x

Fig. 28.2: Polarisation of a molecule

oscillate with a natural frequency ω0 . The positive ions do not move much

due to their large masses. Now if the substance is under time varying electric

field, E, the displacement would change with time, i.e. it will undergo a

forced oscillation, the equation of which will be given by,

e
ẍ + rẋ + ω02 x = − E, (28.8)
m

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6 28 Dispersion

where a natural damping term is introduced proportional to the velocity. We

can recast the above equation in terms of P,

N e2
P̈ + rṖ + ω02 P = E. (28.9)
m

Now we use the other two Maxwell equations, viz. ∇×E = −Ḃ and ∇×H =

Ḋ to elemi nate P from the equation (28.9).

∇ × Ḃ = µ0 D̈

∇ × (∇ × E) = −µ0 ǫ0 Ë − µ0 P̈

∇2 E = µ0 ǫ0 Ë + µ0 P̈ (28.10)

where we used the Maxwell equation ∇·E = 0 and have assumed permeability

of the substance, µ ≈ µ0 , i.e. B = µ0 H. So,

1 1
P̈ = (∇2 E − 2 Ë). (28.11)
µ0 c

Differentiating the equation (28.9) with respect to time we get

 2
N e2

∂ ∂ 2
+ r + ω0 P̈ = Ë. (28.12)
∂t2 ∂t m

Using (28.11) we can now elemi nate P̈ in (28.12) to obtain,

 2
N e2

∂ ∂ 2 2 1
+ r + ω0 (∇ E − 2 Ë) = µ0 Ë. (28.13)
∂t2 ∂t c m

Now when a plane electromagnetic wave polarised along the x direction,

E = Ex = E0 ei(kz−ωt) and Ey = Ez = 0, is incident on the substance,

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28.3 Elementary theory of dispersion 7

with frequency ω, we have on substituting in (28.13) the required dispersion

relation.
ω µ0 N e 2 2
(−ω 2 − irω + ω02 )(−k 2 + ) = − ω . (28.14)
c2 m
After some re-arrangement of terms we get
ω2 (µ0 c2 N e2 /m)
 
2
k = 2 1+ 2 . (28.15)
c ω0 − iω − ω 2
Now ω/k is the phase velocity v, and refractive index n = c/v, so we have

the dependence of refractive index on frequency as

2 (µ0 c2 N e2 /m)
n =1+ 2 . (28.16)
ω0 − iω − ω 2
So we find that in general the refractive index can be imaginary depending

on the frequency and this would lead to absorption. Now if ω02 − ω 2 >> rω

that is damping is small and absorption is neglected, the refractive index is

real,
2 (µ0 c2 N e2 /m)
n =1+ . (28.17)
ω02 − ω 2
In vacuum the wavelength λ = 2πc/ω and if λ0 = 2πc/ω0 , we get the Sell-

meier’ equation (28.3)

2 (µ0 N e2 λ20 λ2 /4π 2 m)

n =1+ (28.18)
λ2 − λ20
with an estimate of A as µ0 N e2 λ20 /(4π 2 m). For the case of electrons of

different restoring forces, we would write the polarisation as,

X
P = −N fj xj (28.19)
j

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8 28 Dispersion

where xj is the displacement of the j th type of electron, the fj is the fraction of

that type and the total electrons available per unit volume is N . Proceeding

as earlier this would lead to the general Sellmeier type formula (28.4)

2 µ0 N e2 X fj λ2j
n =1+ . (28.20)
4π 2 m j λ2 − λ2j

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