ABSTRACT
This chapter considers prisms that change the direction of propagation of the light without any chromatic dispersion and some of the nondeflecting transforming prisms. It also considers only prisms that do not deflect the light beam. The real image produced by a convergent lens is usually rotated 180 as compared with the object; hence, a rotating prism can bring back the image to the original orientation of the object. All of the reversing prisms previously described can be converted into rotating prisms by substituting one of the reflecting surfaces by a couple of surfaces with the shape of a roof. Beam-splitting prisms are used in amplitude division interferometers, and binocular microscopes and telescopes, where a single image must be observed simultaneously with both eyes. This property is used in chromatic dispersing prisms to decompose the light into its elementary chromatic components, obtaining a rainbow, called a spectrum.
