ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters, most of the discussion of radiative transfer was for materials that have a simple refractive index n ≈ 1 (except in Chapter 16). This approximation is valid when the absorbing, emitting, and scattering medium is agas, since almost all gases have arefractive index very close to 1(Lide 2008) (Table 17.1). However, many important effects result from the refractive indices n > 1 possessed by many common materials, which is our focus in this chapter. The most obvious application is for predicting režection and refraction pro¢les atan interface as formulated in Chapters 3 and 14. These phenomena are very important in predicting radiative transfer in translucent coatings, thin ¢lms, and multiple windows. Also, local blackbody emission within amedium increases by a factor of n2, as discussed in Section 1.5.8.
