See Also: Fresnel(dictionary)
Fresnel fringes(medicine)
Fresnel lantern(medicine)
Fresnel lens(medicine)
Fresnel prism(medicine)
Fresnel reflection(medicine)
Fresnel lens(encyclopedia)
Fresnel, Augustin Jean(medicine)

Fresnel (iou)



Fresnel noun. M19.
[A. J. Fresnel (1788-1827), French physicist.]
Physics.
I.
Used attrib. and in possess. to designate devices, phenomena, or concepts related to Fresnel's work in optics. M19.
Fresnel biprism = BIPRISM. Fresnel diffraction diffraction in which the pattern is a nonlinear function of the phase variation across the diffracting aperture or object (cf. Fraunhofer diffraction s.v. FRAUNHOFER 2). Fresnel lens a lens consisting of a number of concentric annular sections, designed to produce a parallel beam free from spherical aberration. Fresnel rhomb, Fresnel's rhomb a glass parallelepiped in which, by total internal reflection, a beam of plane polarized light can be converted into a beam of circularly or elliptically polarized light travelling in the same direction. Fresnel unit = sense 2 below.
II.
(fresnel.) A unit of frequency equal to 1012 Hz. M20.