Re: polarizing microscope for the refractive index calculation

forget all I've said about polymers. I think it did more harm than
good.

when I say 2vertical and one parallel this is what I meant:


imagine a molecule which looks like a tube, meaning that it is much
longer in one in comparison to the other 2,ok?

now for some reasons these molecules tend to lay one next to the other
in such a way that they share mainly a (lets say) south-north.

In such a case when polirized light hits our sample in diferent
directions the refraction index will be diferent.


Try to imagine a film sample set in a way that the SN
orientation(y-axis) is the axis with the molecules are oriented, ES
(x-axis) is the windth of the film and z-axis the thickness of it.

If then planar polirized light is polarized at a south-north direction
we have a ny while when polarized at an east west direction (vertical
to the pollarization axis) we get nx and finally hiting it with
planar-polarized light (vertical to xy-plane and to the orientation
axis as well) we have nz.

these three values compose the elliptical scheme of 3D-represetation
of the refractive index.

sorry if being tiring but I've just wanted to clear out what I was
talking about in order to recieve correct info.

the terms I've used have been borrowed from IR polarized light theory
so they probably (as you suggested) are misleading when it comes to
refraction.

thanks for the tip