General Physics II Laboratory (PHY2054L)

Laws of Optics
Name: Michael Ma Date: 4/1/2025
______________________________________________________________________________

Introduction
Inverse Square Law of Light
Consider a light source placed at a distance (r ) from lthe ight detector. The intensity detected
by the light detector is proportional to the light source power ( P), and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between the source and the detector.
P
I∝ 2
r
The intensity is defined as the power per unit area:
P
I= 2
4πr
Where 4 π r 2 is the area of the imaginary sphere that capsules the source at the detector
location.
The intensity unit is Lux, which is lumen per m2.
At a wavelength of 550 nm, you can convert Lux to W/m2 using the following factor:
W
1 Lux=0.001464 2
m
Polarization
Light is polarized when its electric fields oscillate in a single plane rather than in any direction
perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
When light passes through a polarizer, only the component parallel to the polarization axis is
transmitted.

‫ܧ‬଴ ‫ ܧ‬ൌ ‫ ܧ‬଴ ܿܿߠ

‫ݕ‬
‫ݔ‬
ߠ
Light
direction Transmitted
Incident wave
wave Vertical
polarizer

Figure 1. Show light goes through vertical polarizer.

The intensity is proportional to the square of the electric field:
2
I∝E
If the incoming light is plane-polarized, the outgoing intensity is:
2
I =I 0 cos θ ( Malus ' law)

Law of reflection
The Law of reflection states that the
Incident Reflected
angle of reflection (that the ray ray Normal
ray
makes with the normal to a surface)

ߠ௥
equals the angle of incidence.
ߠ௜
θi=θr

Figure 2. Show reflection of light beam of the surface.

Law of refraction
In general, light slows somewhat when traveling through a medium. The index of refraction of
the medium (n) is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum (c) to the speed of light in the
medium (v):
c
n=
v
n does not have a unit.
Light changes direction when crossing a Reflected
Normal
boundary from one medium to another. This is Incident ray
called refraction, and the angle the outgoing ray ray
makes with the normal is called the angle of ߠଵ
refraction. ݊ଵ
݊ଶ
The angle of refraction depends on the indices of
ߠଶ
Refracted
refraction and is given by Snell’s law: ray

݊ଶ ൐ ݊ଵ
n1 sin θ1=n 2 sin θ2

Where θ is the angle of incidence and θ is the

1 2 Figure 3. Show the refraction of light as it
angle of refraction; n1 and n2 are the respective pass air-water interface.
indices of refraction in the materials.

Materials: Light probe, optics expansion kit.

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Method
1. List the precisions of your measurement tools. (5 points)

Part 1: Inverse Square Law

1. Connect the light sensor to the computer interface, then select sensor data and light sensor.
2. Set the light sensor to the 0-6,000 range.
3. Set up the experiment as shown in Figure 4. Place the light source at the 20 cm mark along
the optical rail and the light sensor on the other end. Remember that optical rail has a scale on
both sides.

Figure 4. Show the experiment setup for the inverse square law. [www.pasco.com]
4. Turn on the computer and search for Logger Pro 3.8.7 on the Desktop.
5. In increments of 5 cm, measure the intensity ( I ) of the light source along the optical rail, and
the distance between the light source and the light probe (d ). Click the collect button to start
the measurement. Select the data and click on the statistics icon to find the mean. Record your
results in Table 1.
6. Turn off the light source.
Part 2: Malus’ Law
1. Set up the experiment as shown in Figure 5. Set the polarizer at 0 degrees with respect to the
vertical axis. Then, place it on the optical rail at the 25 cm mark.

Figure 5. Show the experiment setup for Malus’ Law. [www.pasco.com]

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2. Fix the light probe at the 35 cm mark. Measure and record the light intensity in Table 2.
3. Place the second polarizer on the optical rail at the 30 cm mark.
4. Both polarizers are set to 0 degrees relative to the vertical axis.
5. Rotate the analyzer with increments of 10 degrees and measure the intensity ( I ) of the light
until the analyzer is rotated by 360 degrees. Click the collect button to start the measurement.
Select the data and click on the statistics icon to find the mean. Record the angle ( θ ) and
intensity ( I ) values in Table 2.
6. Turn off the light source.
Part 3: The Law of Reflection
1. Place the light source at the end of the light rail, i.e., the back of the light source is at the zero
mark. Do not turn it on yet.
2. Place the slit mask and slit plate (in this order) on a component holder at the 30 cm mark.
3. Place the ray table close to the slit plate and adjust it until you have a sharp ray. Then, place
the flat mirror across the 90-degree mark.

Figure 6. Show the experiment setup for the law of reflection. [www.pasco.com]
4. Turn the light source on. Adjust the component holder, ray table and the alignment knob on
the light source, so that a single ray travels along the 0-degree line. Check Figure 6.
5. Rotate the ray table, so that the incident ray is at 10 degrees. Record the reflected ray angle
in Table 3.
6. Repeat the last step in increments of 10 degrees until you get to 80 degrees. Record your
results in Table 3.
7. Turn off the light source.

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Part 4: Law of Refraction
1. Place the light source at the end of the light rail, i.e., the back of the light source is at zero
mark. Do not turn it on yet.
2. Place the slit mask and slit plate (in this order) on a component holder at the 30 cm mark.
3. Rotate the ray table so that 0 degrees is along the optical rail.

Figure 7. Show the experiment setup for the law of refraction. [www.pasco.com]
4. Place the cylindrical lens and align its flat side along the 90-degree line as shown in Figure 7.
Turn on the light source and make sure that the light travel through the lens is straight.
5. Rotate the ray table to 10 degrees and measure the refracted angle.
6. Continue to rotate the table in 10-degree increments until you reach 70 degrees. Record your
results in table 4.
7. Turn the light source off.

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Results (50 points)
Place your data in this section.
Table 1
d (m) I (Lux) 1 −2
2
(m )
d
0.50 6.75 4
0.45 7.89 4.94
0.40 8.69 6.25
0.35 9.11 8.16
0.30 10.67 11.11
0.25 11.89 16
0.20 12.63 25
0.15 13.78 44.44
0.10 14.76 100
0.05 15.89 400

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 Table 2

I0 = 64.79 (Lux)
θ (degree) I (Lux)
0 64.79
10 61.15
20 57.96
30 53.20
40 45.38
50 39.21
60 33.70
70 25.35
80 25.31
90 24.79
100 24.81
110 29.07
120 33.68
130 40.56
140 48.18
150 53.30
160 58.45
170 63.13
180 62.73
190 61.91
200 59.27
210 57.61
220 46.06
230 41.59
240 33.72
250 28.92
260 25.05
270 24.38
280 24.94
290 30.81
300 36.89
310 42.35
320 46.44
330 53.31

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 340 52.24
350 57.89
360 60.78

Table 3

Incident Angle θi (degree) Reflected Angle θr (degree) Percent difference

0 0 0
10 10 0
20 20 0
30 30 0
40 40 0
50 51 1.96
60 60 0
70 71 1.43
80 81 1.23

Table 4

Incident Angle θ1 (degree) Refracted Angle θ2 (degree) n2

10 7 1.43
20 13 1.49
30 20 1.46
40 25 1.49
50 31 1.51
60 34 1.55
70 38 1.56

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Data Analysis (30 points)
This part is for data analysis. You can insert graphs and a sample of your calculation.
Part 1: Inverse Square Law
1. Use Excel to plot the intensity of the light source versus the distance to the light probe from
Table 1. Use the power law to fit the data (under trendline option: power). Insert the graph

below. (7 points)

Inverse Square Law Fit

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16
14
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Intensity (Lux)

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Distance (m)

Measured Data

Write below the equation and include the fitting parameters.

I(r) = 0.53r ^ -90
Where:
I = intensity in Lux

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 r = distance in meters
0.53 is the fitting constant (A)
0.90 is the exponent (n), ideally close to 2 for a perfect inverse square relationship
Does the intensity follow an inverse square of the light probe distance?
The measured intensity approximately follows the inverse square law. The ideal exponent n is
2, but the fitted value is n≈0.90n, indicating some deviation likely due to experimental errors,
alignment issues, or sensor limitations. Despite this, the overall trend supports the inverse
relationship between intensity and distance squared.

2. Use Excel to plot the intensity of the light source versus the inverse square of the distance to
the light probe from Table 1. Use the linear fit and add the equation to the graph. Insert the
graph below. (8 points)

Find the slope using the linear fit.

Fitted Equation:

I=0.03⋅(1/d^2)+6.18
Slope:
The slope of the curve is 0.03 Lux·m².
What does the slope of the curve mean?

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The slope indicates the rate at which intensity increases with the inverse square of distance. It
represents how effectively the light source's power distributes over space. A higher slope would
mean a stronger source or better focusing of light; in this case, the relatively low value suggests
a modest-intensity source.

Part 2: Malus’ Law

Use Excel to plot the intensity versus the angle between the polarizers from Table 2. Insert the
graph below. (5 points)

What angle is for maximum and minimum intensity?

Malus’ Law – Intensity vs. Angle Graph
Maximum intensity occurs at: 0°
Minimum intensity occurs at: 270°
This fits Malus' Law, where intensity follows a cosine squared pattern, reaching a maximum
when polarizers are aligned (0°) and a minimum when they are perpendicular (90°, 270°, etc.)

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Part 3: The Law of Reflection
4. Using the data from Table 3, does the angle of incidence equal the angle of reflection?
Calculate the percent difference for each angle in Table 3. Include a sample of your calculations
below. (5 points)
Percent Difference = [|Theta i – theta r| / {(Theta i + theta r)/2} ] *100
Percent Difference = [|50 – 51| / {(50 + 51)/2} ] *100 = 1.98%

Table 3

Incident Angle θi (degree) Reflected Angle θr (degree) Percent difference

0 0 0
10 10 0
20 20 0
30 30 0
40 40 0
50 51 1.96
60 60 0
70 71 1.43
80 81 1.23

Most percent differences are 0%, and small deviations under 2% may be due to experimental
error or measurement precision.

Part 4: Law of Refraction

5. Use Snell’s law (n1 sin θ1=n 2 sin θ2 ) to calculate the index of refraction of the cylindrical lens
and fill Table 4. Assume the index of refraction for air (n1=1.00). (5 points)

Calculate the average value of the index of refraction of the cylindrical lens.
Average Index of Refraction:
Given values:
n2=[1.43,1.49,1.46,1.52,1.51,1.55,1.56]
Average:
nˉ2=(1.43+1.49+1.46+1.52+1.51+1.55+1.56)/7=1.50

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The true value of the index of refraction for the cylindrical lens is 1.49. Use the average and true
value of the index of refraction to calculate the percent error.

Percent Error:
True value = 1.49
Average value = 1.50

Percent Error=[∣1.50−1.49∣/(1.50+1.49)/2]×100= 0.58%

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Conclusion (15 points)
The experiment performed core optical principles by exhibiting the features
of inverse square law along with Malus' Law and reflection law as well as Snell’s
law. The collected measurements showed close agreement with the theoretical
predictive models. Light intensity decreased according to distance squared while
the polarizer angle produced light intensity based on cosine squared values and
incident and reflected angles were close in value with both resulting in matching
index of refraction numbers to previously established values. Some data points
showed small deviations which remained within the permitted experimental
margins without changing the general accuracy level of the measurements.

The highly precise instruments used in measurement procedures produced

detection error which was both small and measurable. Light sensors and angle
measurement tools have built-in constraints affecting their ability to determine
precise measurements. The measurement devices have fundamental accuracy
constraints that produce moderate contradictions when processing data points
such as the index of refraction calculation or curve fitting procedures. The basic
optics experiments used these tools successfully because their measured errors
remained within acceptable parameters.

The qualitative measurement accuracy could also be affected because of

misaligned optical components and obstructed ambient light and irregular
positional variations that occur during data collecting operations. Human mistake
in measuring values and polarizer rotations might create variations in the
experiment. Small imperfections on the lenses or polarizers that appeared as
scratches or uneven coatings likely altered the transmission and refraction
behavior of light which negatively affected measurement accuracy. The
experiment delivered precise visual evidence of optical basic concepts although
some interfered factors still affected its accuracy.

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