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Total Internal Reflection

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gokulsai.26052008
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10 views

Total Internal Reflection

Uploaded by

gokulsai.26052008
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

INDEX

PAGE
NO.
CONTENTS
1
AIM
2
PRINCIPLE
3
CONSTRUCTION
4-5
WORKING
6
APPLICATION AND USES
7
CONDITION FOR TIR
8
BIBILIOGRAPHY
AIM
TO STUDY THE WORKING OF TOTAL INTERNAL
REFLECTION
PRINCIPLE
When a light wave passes through a boundary between
two materials of different refractive indices , a part of the
wave will be refracted at the surface of the boundary, and
another part will be reflected.

If the angle of incidence of the light wave is greater than


the critical angle, i.e. the incidence angle at which the light
is refracted and travels along the boundary, then the light
wave cannot pass via the boundary. Under this condition,
the light is said to be totally reflected back internally.
CONSTRUCTION

1. Place a thick sheet of paper in a thermocol (measurement to the


size of sheet).

2. Draw a circle with pencil , split the


circle into four quadrants and mark the
degree in the circle (from

0 to 90 °) on second and third quadrant


on the circle .

3. Place a hemispherical glass in such


a manner that the glass is placed
downwards residing on the third and
fourth quadrant of the circle

4. With the help of a laser light pass the


light through the marked degree from the third quadrant .

5. Observe refraction , critical angle and total internal reflection at


certain degrees from the experiment .
WORKING
The phenomenon in which a ray of light travelling at an angle of incidence
greater than the critical angle from denser to a rarer medium is totally
reflected back into the denser medium is called Total internal reflection

Total internal reflection depends on Snell’s law,

Snell’s law states that “The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence and the
sine of angle of refraction is constant for a given pair of media”

n1.sin θ1 = n2⋅sin θ2

“The angle of incidence in the denser medium for which the angle of refraction in
the rarer medium is 90° is called critical angle of the denser medium and is
denoted by ic.”

As we said, the refraction angle is 90° when the incident angle is equal to
the critical angle or θ1 = θc . As sin(90°) = 1, the equation is as follows:

n1⋅sin θ = n2

Thus, the critical angle between two materials boundaries where n1 > n2
can be determined with the following equation :

The effect consists of no light being refracted into the second medium and
all light being reflected .The critical angle θc is the name given to the
incident angle that produces an angle of refraction of 90°.

The refractive index (n) specifies how fast light can travel through the
medium. The refractive index and the speed of light in the
medium are inversely proportional .The behavior of a light beam related
to the refractive index and the angle of incidence.
Figure 1 (a). As the refractive index of the second boundary n2 is less than
the refractive index of the first boundary, the refraction angle θ2 is bigger
than the incident angle θ1.

(a)
Figure 2 (b) .When the incident angle θ1 increases, the refraction angle
θ2 also increases. However, this can only be as high as 90°, which happens
when the incident angle is equal to the critical angle θc.

(b)
Figure 3 (c).The total internal reflection of light occurs when the incident
angle of light θ1 is bigger than the critical angle θc

(c)
APPLICATION AND USES
 Total internal reflection is the operating principle of optical
fibres, which are used in endoscopes and
telecommunications.
 Total internal reflection is the operating principle of
automotive rain sensors, which control automatic
windscreen/windshield wipers.
 The brilliance of diamond is due to total internal reflection ,
as the refractive index of diamond is very large , its critical
angle is very small about 24.4°.
 Mirage is an optical illusion observed in deserts or over hot
extended surfaces like a coat-tarred road , due to total
internal reflection.
 Another application of total internal reflection is the spatial
filtering of light.
 Prismatic binoculars use the principle of total internal
reflections to get a very clear image.
 Gonioscopy employs total internal reflection to view the
anatomical angle formed between the eye’s cornea and iris.
 Optical fingerprinting devices use frustrated total internal
reflection in order to record an image of a person’s
fingerprint without the use of ink.
 A Total internal reflection fluorescence microscope uses the
evanescent wave produced by TIR to excite fluorophores
close to a surface. This is useful for the study of surface
properties of biological samples.
CONDITION FOR TOTAL INTERNAL
REFLECTION (TIR)

The two conditions for the total internal reflection to take


place are as follows:

1. Throughout the denser medium, the angle of


incidence must've been larger than the critical angle
for this kind of combination of media.
2. A light ray might move from a denser medium
toward a rarer medium.
BIBILIOGRAPHY

 WWW.AZOTOPICS.COM
 WWW.ALLREPORTS.COM
 REFERENCE FROM S.L.ARORA

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