The optical phenomenon where a single light ray splits into two rays traveling at different speeds through a material; double refraction.
From Latin 'bi-' (two) and 'refraction.' The term was coined in the 1600s by Christiaan Huygens when studying light behavior in crystals like Iceland spar.
Birefraction revolutionized our understanding of light—it showed that light behaves differently in different directions through crystals, which eventually led to the discovery that light is a wave with direction-dependent properties.
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