Unpolarised light is incident from air on a plane surface of a material of refractive index 'μ'. At a particular angle of incidence 'i', it is found that the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular to each other. Which of the following options…

Question

Unpolarised light is incident from air on a plane surface of a material of refractive index ' μ '. At a particular angle of incidence 'i', it is found that the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular to each other. Which of the following options is correct for this situation ? 1. Reflected light is polarised with its electric vector parallel to the plane of incidence 2. i=sin⁻¹(1/μ) 3. Reflected light is polarised with its electric vector perpendicular to the plane of incidence 4. i=tan⁻¹(1/μ)

Doubtly AI · Accepted Answer

Answer: 3. Reflected light is polarised with its electric vector perpendicular to the plane of incidence When reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular, the incidence angle is the Brewster angle i_B , with tan i_B=μ . At this angle the reflected light is completely plane polarised, with its electric vector perpendicular to the plane of incidence (parallel to the surface). So option 3 is correct. Options 2 and 4 are wrong because the Brewster condition is i=tan⁻¹μ , not sin⁻¹(1/μ) or tan⁻¹(1/μ) . Option 1 has the wrong direction of polarisation.

Unpolarised light is incident from air on a plane surface of a material of refractive index 'μ'. At a particular angle of incidence 'i', it is found that the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular to each other. Which of the following options…

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