Experimental observation of total-internal-reflection rainbows.
A new class of rainbows is created when a droplet is illuminated from the inside by a point light source. The position of the rainbow depends on both the index of refraction of the droplet and the position of the light source, and the rainbow vanishes when the point source is too close to the center of the droplet. Here we experimentally measure the position of the transmission and one-internal-reflection total-internal-reflection rainbows, and the standard (primary) rainbow, as a function of light-source position.
Adler
Charles L
CL
Department of Physics, St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, Maryland 20686, USA. cladler@smcm.edu
Lock
James A
JA
Mulholland
Jonathon
J
Keating
Brian
B
Ekelman
Diana
D