total internal reflection
English
Alternative forms
- total internal reflexion
Noun
total internal reflection (countable and uncountable, plural total internal reflections)
- (optics, uncountable) A phenomenon where light, instead of passing into a medium of a lower refractive index and refracting away from the normal, is completely reflected by the boundary between the two media because it approaches at an angle greater than or equal to the critical angle.
- (countable) An instance of this phenomenon.
Synonyms
- complete internal reflection
See also
- Snell's law