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The reststrahlen effect is a reflectance phenomenon in which electromagnetic radiation within a narrow energy band cannot propagate within a given medium due to a change in refractive index concurrent with the specific absorbance band of the medium in question; this narrow energy band is termed the reststrahlen band.
As a result of this inability to propagate, normally incident reststrahlen band radiation experiences strong-reflection or total-reflection from that medium.
The energies at which reststrahlen bands occur vary and are particular to the individual compound.
Numerous physical attributes of a compound will have an effect on the appearance of the reststrahlen band. These include phonon band-gap, particle/grain size, strongly absorbing compounds, compounds with optically opaque bands in the infrared.