  Refraction deflects photons that pass through atmospheres, which affects
transit light curves. Refraction thus provides an avenue to probe physical
properties of exoplanet atmospheres and to constrain the presence of clouds and
hazes. In addition, an effective surface can be imposed by refraction, thereby
limiting the pressure levels probed by transmission spectroscopy. The main
objective of the paper is to model the effects of refraction on photometric
light curves for realistic planets and to explore the dependencies on
atmospheric physical parameters. We also explore under which circumstances
transmission spectra are significantly affected by refraction. Finally, we
search for refraction signatures in photometric residuals in Kepler data. We
use the model of Hui & Seager (2002) to compute deflection angles and
refraction transit light curves, allowing us to explore the parameter space of
atmospheric properties. The observational search is performed by stacking large
samples of transit light curves from Kepler. We find that out-of-transit
refraction shoulders are the most easily observable features, which can reach
peak amplitudes of ~10 parts per million (ppm) for planets around Sun-like
stars. More typical amplitudes are a few ppm or less for Jovians and at the
sub-ppm level for super-Earths. Interestingly, the signal-to-noise ratio of any
refraction residuals for planets orbiting Sun-like hosts are expected to be
similar for planets orbiting red dwarfs. We also find that the maximum depth
probed by transmission spectroscopy is not limited by refraction for weakly
lensing planets, but that the incidence of refraction can vary significantly
for strongly lensing planets. We find no signs of refraction features in the
stacked Kepler light curves, which is in agreement with our model predictions.
