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PHYSICS

Dobrosława Kasprowicz

5. OPTICS

5.1 Reflection and Refraction of Light

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Some of the optical properties of an optical medium can be described by a dimensionless constant
called the index of refraction n. The index of refraction n of a vacuum is defined to be exactly 1, for air
it is very close to 1, for water (20oC) n = 1.33, acetone n = 1.36, ethyl alcohol n = 1.36, typical crown
glass n = 1.52, sapphire n = 1.77 and diamond n = 2.42. Nothing has an index of refraction n below 1.
The index of refraction n of a medium is equal to c/v, where v is the speed of light in that medium and
c is its speed in a vacuum.

The light incidence on a surface that separates two media can be reflected and/or refracted. The travel
of light through a surface that separates two media is called refraction and the light is said to be
refracted. In Fig. 5.1 beams of light are represented with an incident ray, a reflected ray and a refracted
ray.

Fig.5.1 Light incidence on a surface that separates two media. Part of the light is reflected by the surface at
an angle equal to the angle θ1 of incident ray (measured relatively to the normal). Light refracting at the angle
θ2 from a medium with an index of refraction n1 and into a medium within an index of refraction n2

In Fig. 5.1, each ray is oriented with respect to a line called the normal that is perpendicular to the
surface at the point of reflection and refraction. The angle of incidence is θ1, the angle of reflection is
1' and θ2 is the angle of refraction. The plane containing the incident ray and normal is the plane of
incidence, which is in the plane of the page.

Law of reflection: a reflected ray lies in the plane of incidence and has an angle of reflection equal to
the angle of incidence:
(5.1)
1 = 1 .
'

Law of refraction: a refracted ray lies in the plane of incidence and has an angle of refraction that is
related to the angle of incidence by a relation called Snell’s law:

n2 sin 1 (5.2)
= .
n1 sin  2

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Chromatic Dispersion
The index of refraction n encountered by light in any medium except a vacuum depends on the
wavelength of the light. The dependence of n on the wavelength implies that when a light beam
consists of rays of different wavelengths, the rays will be refracted at different angles by a surface.
That is, the light will be spread out by the refraction. The spreading of light is called chromatic
dispersion, in which chromatic refers to colors associated with the individual wavelengths and
dispersion refers to the spreading of the light according to its wavelengths or colors. Generally, the
index of refraction in a given medium is greater for a shorter wavelength (blue light) than for a longer
wavelength (red light).

A beam of white light consists of components of all colors in the visible spectrum with approximately
uniform intensities. When you see such a beam, you perceive white rather than the individual colors.
For color separation, we can use a solid glass prism with a triangular cross section as in Fig.5.2. As we
see from this figure, the blue component is bent more than the red component and the angle of
refraction for the blue component is smaller than the angle of refraction for the red component.
Chromatic dispersion in a triangular prism occurs at the first surface and is increased at the second
surface.

Fig.5.2 Triangular prism separating white light into its component colors; https://kids.britannica.com

The most charming example of chromatic dispersion is a rainbow (Fig.5.3.). When white sunlight is
intercepted by a falling raindrop, some of the light refracts into the drop, reflects from the drop’s inner
surface and then refracts out of the drop. The rainbow you can see is formed by the light refracted by
many such drops.

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Fig.5.3. A rainbow is a circular arc that is centered on the direction you would look in if you looked directly
away from the Sun; https://pixabay.com

Polarization
The electromagnetic waves emitted by any common source of light (such as the Sun or a classic bulb)
are polarized randomly or unpolarized; that is, an electric field E at any given point is always
perpendicular to the direction of travel of the wave but changes directions randomly. Fig.5.4.
schematically shows unpolarized and linearly polarized light beams.

Fig.5.4 An unpolarized light beam viewed along the direction of propagation (perpendicular to the page). A
transverse electric field E can vibrate in any direction in the plane of the page with equal probability (a). A
linearly polarized light beam with an electric field E vibrating in the vertical direction

It is possible to obtain a linearly polarized beam from an unpolarized beam by removing all waves from
the beam except those whose electric field vectors E oscillate in a single plane. We can implement this
in many ways, for example, through selective absorption or through the reflection from a surface.
Polarization by selective absorption: the most common technique for producing polarized light is to
use a polaroid (material that polarizes light through selective absorption by oriented molecules). A
polaroid transmits waves whose electric fields E vibrate in a plane parallel to a certain direction and
that absorbs waves whose electric fields E vibrate in all other directions. We can define the polarizing
direction along which the electric field E’s components are passed: an electric field component parallel
to the polarizing direction is passed (transmitted) by a polarizer, while a component perpendicular to
it is absorbed. The intensity of the polarized beam transmitted through the polarizer is:

I = I 0 cos 2  (5.3)

where I0 is the intensity of the partially polarized beam incident on the polarizer and θ is the angle
between E and the polarizing direction of the polarizer. Eq. 5.3 is known as Malus’s law. From this
expression, note that the intensity I of the transmitted beam is a maximum and is equal to the original
intensity I0 when the original wave is polarized in parallel with the polarizing direction of the polarizer
(θ is equal 0o or 180o), and I is zero when the original wave is polarized perpendicularly to the polarizing
direction of the polarizer (for θ equal to 00 or 900).

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Polarization by reflection: reflected light is partially or fully polarized by the reflection from a surface.
Let us resolve electric field E vectors of light into two components. The perpendicular components are
perpendicular to the plane of incidence, while parallel components are parallel to the plane of
incidence. Because the incident light is unpolarized, these two components are of equal magnitude.
When the light is incident at a particular incident angle called the Brewster angle θB the reflected light
has only perpendicular components and it is fully polarized perpendicularly to the plane of incidence.
Fig.5.5 shows a ray of unpolarized light incident on a glass surface at the Brewster angle θB.

Fig.5.5 A ray of unpolarized light in air is incident on a glass surface at the Brewster angle θB

The refracted light consists of the original components parallel to the plane of incidence and weaker
components perpendicular to the plane of incidence. Moreover, for the light incident at the Brewster
angle θB, the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular to each other. Because the refracted ray
is at angle θr we have:

 B +  r = 90o . (5.4)

Using Snell’s law of refraction (Eq. 12.2), we can obtain an expression relating the polarizing angle θB
to the index of refraction n2 of the reflecting substance:

n2 sin  B sin  B (5.5)

= = = tan  B .
n1 sin(90 −  B ) cos B
o

If the incident rays travel through air, we can approximate n1 as a unity and let n represent n2, so we
can rewrite the Eq.5.5 as:

n = tan  B . (5.6)

This expression is called Brewster’s law. Because n varies with the wavelength for a given substance,
Brewster’s angle is also the function of a wavelength.
Polarization by reflection is a common phenomenon. Sunlight reflected from water, glass and snow is
partially polarized. If the surface is horizontal, the electric field vector E of the reflected light has a
strong horizontal component. Sunglasses made of a polarizing material reduce the glare of reflected
light. The transmission axes of the lenses are oriented vertically, so that they absorb the strong
horizontal component of the reflected light. If you rotate the sunglasses by 90°, they will not be as
effective at blocking the glare from shiny horizontal surfaces.

Total Internal Reflection

Fig.5.6 shows the rays of monochromatic light from a point source in glass incident on the interface
between glass and air. As the angle of incidence is the critical angle θc, the angle of refraction is 90o,
which means that the refracted ray points directly along the interface. For angles of incidence larger

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than θc, there is no refracted ray and all the light is reflected. This effect is called total internal
reflection.

Fig.5.6 Total internal reflection

Using Snell’s law of refraction (Eq. 12.2), we can obtain an expression relating the critical angle θc to
the index of refraction n2 of the glass:

n1 sin  c (5.7)
= = sin  c .
n2 sin 90o

If the refracted rays travel through air, we can approximate n1 as a unity and let n represent n2, so that
we can rewrite the Eq. 5.7 as:

1 (5.8)
= sin  c .
n

Total internal reflection occurs when incident light is in the medium of a higher index of refraction n.
Total internal reflection has found many applications due to the optical fiber technology. Optical fibers
can be used to guide light along a certain path. The idea is to make a ray of light travel along a
transparent fiber by bouncing between the walls (lower index of refraction n) of the fiber. As long as
the incident angle of the ray on the wall of the fiber is always greater than the critical angle θc, the ray
will always remain within the fiber even if the fiber is bent (Fig.5.7). The important uses of optical fibers
are: in optical communication (digital data can be encoded into pulses of light that can travel along the
fibers), or in medicine (for example, bundles of optical fibers can be used to carry images back from
inside the body through an endoscope).

Fig.5.7 Scheme of an optical fiber

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Interference of Light, Diffraction Gratings

Colors can also be observed as the results of interference, like in soup bubbles, oil slicks or photonic
structure of the surface of a beetle’s armor. However, soup bubbles and oil slicks can also show striking
colors, produced not by refraction or selective absorption of some selected waves but by a constructive
and destructive interference of light. Interfering waves combine either to enhance or to suppress
certain colors in the spectrum of incident sunlight. Interference of light waves is thus a superposition
phenomenon, like the ones discussed in Chapter 1.

Fig. 5.8 White light interference in a soap bubble; http://thevillagegranny.files.wordpress.com

Photonic structure of wings of Morpho butterflies create color by causing light waves to diffract and;
https://asknature.org

In fact, the existence of interference phenomena is perhaps one of the most convincing pieces of
evidence that light is a wave, because interference cannot be explained otherwise than with waves.
The diffraction of waves occurs if a wave encounters a barrier that has an opening with dimensions
similar to the wavelength, the part of the wave that passes through the opening will flare out and
diffract into the region beyond the barrier. The flaring out is consistent with the spreading of wavelets
in the Huygens’ construction. Huygens’ wave theory is based on a geometrical construction that allows
us to tell where a given wavefront will be at any time in the future if we know its present position. This
construction is based on Huygens’ principle, which is: all points on a wavefront serve as point sources
of spherical secondary wavelets. After a time t, the new position of the wavefront will be that of a
surface tangent to these secondary wavelets. Diffraction occurs for waves of all types, not just light
waves.

Fig.5.9 Diffraction pattern of a red laser beam made on a plate after passing a small circular hole in another
plate; https://www.quora.com
In 1801, Thomas Young experimentally proved that light is a wave by demonstrating that light
undergoes interference as do water waves, sound waves and waves of all types. Fig.5.10 schematically
shows the basic arrangement of Young’s experiment.

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Fig.5.10 Arrangement of Young’s experiment

Light from a distant monochromatic source illuminates a slit S0 in screen A. The emerging light then
spreads via diffraction to illuminate two slits S1 and S2 in screen B. The diffraction of the light by the
two slits sends overlapping circular waves into the region beyond screen B, where the waves from slit
S1 interfere with the waves from slit S2. As a result, points of interference maxima form visible bright
rows called bright bands or bright fringes (maxima) that extend across screen C. Dark regions called
dark bands or dark fringes (minima) result from fully destructive interference and are visible between
adjacent pairs of bright fringes. The pattern of bright and dark fringes on screen C is called an
interference pattern.
The conditions for a bright fringes are:

d sin  = m for m = 0, 1, 2,… , (5.9)

while for a dark fringes they are:

1 (5.10)
d sin  = (m = ) for m = 0, 1, 2,…
2

where d is the distance between slits S1 and S2,  is the angle between the central axis and the axis
connecting the point halfway between the slits and the point at screen C where the first bright fringe
is observed, and m is the order of the fringes. The central, reference axis is the axis from the point
halfway between the slits to screen B where the zero order bright fringe is observed.
One of the most useful tools in the study of light and objects that emit and absorb light is the diffraction
grating. This device has a number N of slits, often called rulings, perhaps as many as several thousand
per milimeter. When monochromatic light is sent through the slits, it forms narrow interference fringes
that can be analyzed to determine, for example, the wavelength of the light. A diffraction grating can
also be an opaque surface with narrow parallel grooves. Light then scatters back from the grooves to
form interference fringes rather than being transmitted through open slits (Fig. 5.11).

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Fig.5.11 White light dispersion by a diffraction grating; http://www.sciencephoto.com

To find the location of bright lines on the screen, we can use the following relation:

d sin  = m for m =1, 2, 3,… (maxima) (5.11)

where d is the grating spacing/the separation between rulings (if N rulings occupy a total width s, then
d = s/N), θ is the angle between the central axis of the grating and the point on the screen, in which
we observe the bright zero-order line, λ is the wavelength of the light, m is the order number and
represents different bright lines of the first-order (m = 1), second-order (m = 2), and so on. As we can
see from Eq. 5.12, the angle between the central axis and any line depends on the wavelength of the
light being used, thus, when light of an unknown wavelength is sent through a diffraction grating,
measurements of the angles to the higher order lines can be used to determine the wavelength [1-3].

LITERATURE

[1] Halliday D., Resnick R., Walker J., Fundamentals of Physics, John Wiley&Sons, Inc., New York 1997.
[2] Halliday D., Resnick R., Walker J., Podstawy fizyki tom: 1–5, PWN, Warszawa 2003.
[3] Tipler P.A., Physics for scientists and engineers, W. H. Freeman and Company,
New York, 1999.

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