A light ray traveling from rarer to denser medium, bends towards the normal and a light ray traveling from denser to rarer medium bends away from the normal. Is it possible by any mechanism to bend a ray of light traveling in the same medium?
Yes, it is.
Suppose you have got a temperature gradient, so the density of material has also got a gradient and the pathway of the light beam will be bent .
A very famous example for the case of air is the Fata Morgana.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage).
You will find a lot of other examples on youtube dealing with bending of light by a gradient of concentration; for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCaHvZQnIws
Yes ! Gravity. Light bends during eclipse under the influence of gravity. Search for Einstein's 1919 experiment.
You can also use interference effects for example in an Airy beam:
https://physics.aps.org/story/v20/st19
You can produce an Airy beam with a suitable phase mask, here is a nice application:
https://physicsforme.com/2011/08/12/researchers-develop-technique-for-dynamically-controlling-plasmonic-airy-beams/
This may happen, for example, if the medium, though chemically homogeneous, has a temperature difference between the in and out sides.
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