A method for observing “tangent conic refraction”—the linear transformation of optical waves in a smooth inhomogeneous medium in the vicinities of points where the refractive indices of ordinary and extraordinary waves coincide—is proposed. A plane optical wave is transmitted through a glass rectangular parallelepiped with a circular cylindric hole and crossed polaroids at the entrance and exit faces. Glass is subjected to external pressure in the direction of side faces varying along the axis and axially symmetric pressure from the inside of the hole. The appearance of a complex deformation results in complex optical anisotropy of the form necessary for the appearance of wave transformation in the vicinity of longitudinal planes of symmetry. As a result, a crosslike distribution of the intensity appears on a screen. For a sufficiently large mechanical stresses, this distribution differs significantly from that which would appear in the absence of tangent conic refraction.
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