Dispersion

The dispersion Python package provides a way of loading and evaluating files containing the dispersion of the refractive index of materials.

Read the full documentation at https://dispersion.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

Background

In optics, the phenomenon that the refractive index depends upon the frequency is called the phenomenon of dispersion, because it is the basis of the fact that light is "dispersed" by a prism into a spectrum.

Feynman Lectures in physics

Getting Started

Python is required to install and use the dispersion package. It is recommended to use a package manager such as pip to install the package. ::

pip install dispersion

now we need to tell the package where you are going to store the material data files. To do this we run the script that comes with the package ::

dispersion_setup

This script will ask you to type in the path to a folder where the database file structure will be installed. Secondly, you will be asked to name the database. Finally you will be asked if you would like to install the available modules.

Now that the database has been setup, we can start using the package. For examples and further documentation, see the related pages.