Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-20-2001

Publication Title

Applied Optics

Abstract

We experimentally examine the primary rainbow created by the illumination of a coated cylinder. We present a simple technique for varying the coating thickness over a wide range of values, and we see evidence for two different scattering regimes. In one, where the coating thickness is large, twin rainbows are produced. In the second, where the coating is thin enough to act as a thin film, a single rainbow is produced whose intensity varies periodically as the coating thickness varies. We find good agreement with previous theoretical predictions. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.

Original Citation

Adler, Charles L., James A. Lock, Justin K. Nash, and Kirk W. Saunders. "Experimental Observation of Rainbow Scattering by a Coated Cylinder: Twin Primary Rainbows and Thin-Film Interference." Applied Optics 40 (2001): 1548-1558.

DOI

10.1364/AO.40.001548

Version

Publisher's PDF

Volume

40

Issue

9

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS