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For optical lasers, these irregular spurts – or filamentation – result from the index of refraction changing in the laser material.—
Thomas Linker,
The Conversation,
15 Oct. 2025 The higher the index of refraction, the slower light travels in that medium.—
Rhett Allain,
WIRED,
23 Aug. 2024 Similarly, a time mirror is formed by an abrupt change in the index of refraction—but in time.—IEEE Spectrum,
30 Aug. 2023