Optical rotatory dispersion

In <a href="/facts/Optics/p0vq4S1T">optics</a>, optical rotatory dispersion is the variation of the <a href="/facts/Specific_rotation/XGLNP7U3">specific rotation</a> of a medium with respect to the <a href="/facts/Wavelength/kcJU0ymz">wavelength</a> of <a href="/facts/Light/jeofpMn4">light</a>. Usually described by German physicist <a href="/facts/Paul_Drude/PL4u5Qpq">Paul Drude</a>'s empirical relation:

 
 
 
 [
 α
 
 ]
 
 λ
 
 
 T
 
 
 =
 
 ∑
 
 n
 =
 0
 
 
 ∞
 
 
 
 
 
 A
 
 n
 
 
 
 
 λ
 
 2
 
 
 −
 
 λ
 
 n
 
 
 2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 {\displaystyle [\alpha ]_{\lambda }^{T}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {A_{n}}{\lambda ^{2}-\lambda _{n}^{2}}}}

where 
 
 
 
 [
 α
 
 ]
 
 λ
 
 
 T
 
 
 
 
 {\displaystyle [\alpha ]_{\lambda }^{T}}
 
 is the specific rotation at temperature 
 
 
 
 T
 
 
 {\displaystyle T}
 
 and wavelength 
 
 
 
 λ
 
 
 {\displaystyle \lambda }
 
, and 
 
 
 
 
 A
 
 n
 
 
 
 
 {\displaystyle A_{n}}
 
 and 
 
 
 
 
 λ
 
 n
 
 
 
 
 {\displaystyle \lambda _{n}}
 
 are constants that depend on the properties of the medium.
Optical rotatory dispersion has applications in <a href="/facts/Organic_chemistry/djxhxaNg">organic chemistry</a> regarding determining the structure of organic compounds.

Optical rotatory dispersion open-in-new

Optical rotatory dispersion