meltz opened this issue on Dec 14, 2011 ยท 16 posts
bagginsbill posted Thu, 15 December 2011 at 6:21 PM
Index of refraction is not measured by measuring refraction. It is measured by measuring reflection.
The IOR affects reflection and refraction. Refraction, however, can be suppressed by the material, particularly if the IOR is complex. (The imaginary part is nonzero in electrical conductors. It is zero in dialectrics, by definition. A dialectric = a material with a real IOR and no imaginary part.)
So - if you measure reflections you can solve for IOR. And this is certainly possible for any material.
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