Wave optics of Liesegang rings

Abstract

Liesegang rings refract and reflect at the interface between the regions of the same gel but of different thickness. The incident and the refracted rings obey a refraction law analogous to the Snell's law of classical optics, with a reverse of the spacing coefficient being a counterpart of the refraction index. The wavelike behavior of the rings at the interface is explained by geometrical arguments derived from the Jablczynski's spacing principle, and is reproduced in numerical simulations based on a three-dimensional minimalistic version of the nucleation-growth model.