Analysis of the shadow-sausage effect caustic.
We analyze the optical caustic produced by light refracted at the curved meniscus surrounding a cylindrical rod standing partially out of a liquid-filled container. When the rod is tilted from the vertical or when light is diagonally incident, the caustic is a four-cusped astroid with two of its cusps obscured by the rod's shadow. If a portion of the flat end of the rod is raised above the water level, the caustic evolves into a pattern of five interlocking cusps. The five cusps result from symmetry breaking of a three-cusped surface perturbation caustic.
Lock
James A
JA
Department of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, USA. j.lock@csuohio.edu
Adler
Charles L
CL
Ekelman
Diana
D
Mulholland
Jonathan
J
Keating
Brian
B