Abstract

An alternative method for calculating of optical path length in inhomogeneous media is presented. This method may be used with the three component and the four component ray-trace schemes considered ealier^2,3.The method is based on a series expansion of the refractive index of the medium for second ray-trace scheme divided by the third optical direction cosine as a function of six suitable ray-trace parameters from a given, three adjacent Runge-Kutta points.

A comparison with previous method which was applied for the three component ray-trace scheme is made.

© 1994 Optical Society of America