Dispersion and Scattering of Light

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Plane glass is an amorphous material with no crystalline structure. This prevents various refractive processes from occurring that would ruin its transparency. This is why optical fibers are made with amorphous materials. Light can be scattered in any inhomogeneous medium, that is, if there are fluctuations in the refractive index. Amorphous materials tend to be inhomogeneous.

Here is a light beam I₀ that is coming from the left towards a scattering center.

The expression for Rayleigh scattering.

<math>I_s (\theta)\propto I_0 \; \frac{\nu^2} {\lambda^4} ( 1 + cos^2 \theta)\,\!</math>