Question

The angle of incidence of a light beam in air onto a reflecting surface is continuously variable. The reflected ray is found to be completely polarized when the angle of incidence is 49.0°.

(a) What is the index of refraction of the reflecting material?


(b) If some of the incident light (at an angle of 49.0°) passes into the material below the surface, what is the angle of refraction?
°

Answer 1

given

angle of incidence of beam is ?_i =49⁰

as it satisfies Brewster's law , so the polarizing angle is?_p =?_i = 49⁰

a)

the index of refraction according to Brewster'slaw is

      n =tan ?_p

          =tan49⁰

          =1.150

b)

the angle of refraction is given as

        ?_refra = 90⁰ -?_p

                   = 90⁰ - 49⁰

                    =41⁰