The intensity of high-order rainbows for normally incident light and certain rotation angles of a cylinder with an elliptical cross section is greatly amplified with respect to the intensity for a circular cross-sectional cylinder. The amplification is due to a number of the internal reflections occurring past the critical angle for total internal reflection, and the effect is especially strong for odd-order rainbows, beginning with the third order. Experimentally, the fourth- and the fifth-order rainbows of a nearly elliptical cross-sectional glass rod were observed and analyzed. # 1998 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 090.5640, 290.0290.
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