What is the principle of refractometers?

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Refraction is the bending of light when it passes from one medium into another with a different refractive index. A refractometer uses this bending to determine the sample’s refractive index, which correlates with solute concentration and allows quick, quantitative measurements. The idea is not about absorbing light and re-emitting it (that describes fluorescence), nor about how much light passes through a suspension (turbidity), nor about filtering light for detection (a general photometric detector concept).