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3.9 - Total Internal Reflection - POWERPOINT

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7 views17 pages

3.9 - Total Internal Reflection - POWERPOINT

Uploaded by

sunil1212
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Total Internal

Reflection
Waves

☞
Limit of Refraction
When light
reaches a
boundary between
media where
n1 > n2, the light
ray will refract
away from the
normal.

The angle of refraction will eventually approach 90o

☜ ☞
Critical Angle, θc
The Critical Angle, θc, is the angle of
incidence that causes the light to refract
out of the more optically dense medium at
an angle of refraction of 90o.

☜ ☞
Critical Angle, θc
The Critical Angle,
θc, of any substance
can be found using:

☜ ☞
Special Conditions for θc
1. The light must always travel from a more optically dense
medium into a less optically dense medium. (i.e. n1 > n2)

2. When the less dense medium is a vacuum or air, the expression


for the critical angle becomes:

3. For incident angles smaller than the critical angle there will
always be a very low energy reflected ray within the medium.

☜ ☞
Total Internal Reflection
When the angle of incidence is greater than the
critical angle, the light does not refract out of the
medium. Instead all of the light is reflected back
into the original medium.

☜ This is called Total Internal Reflection ☞


Periscopes
Periscopes make use of
total internal reflection.

Periscopes in
submarines allow the
crew to see above water
and spot the enemy.
They were used in the
trenched in the war too.

☜ ☞
Optical Fibres
Optical fibres make use of total internal reflection to
transmit information signals.

☜ ☞
Types of Optical Fibres

Exam calculations will only use step-index fibres

☜ ☞
Uses of Optical Fibres
Communication

Information such as computer data


and telephone calls can be
converted into digital signals of
pulsed electromagnetic waves.
These can be carried through
optical fibres.

☜ ☞
Benefits of Optical Fibres
Communication
The advantages of optical fibres
over coaxial cables are:

• Immune to electromagnetic interference.


• They permit transmission over longer distances.
• They carry broader bandwidths (i.e. more information)
• Low attenuation loss (i.e. very little energy loss)
• Greater security of transmitted information.

☜ ☞
Uses of Optical Fibres
Endoscopes

☜ ☞
Benefits of Optical Fibres
Endoscopes
The advantages of endoscopes over open surgery are:

• Less invasive
• Less chance of infection
• Recovery is quicker
• Flexibility to travel deep within the body
• Can be performed on outpatients
• Less expensive

☜ ☞
Problems of Optical Fibres
Optical fibres are not a perfect way of transmitting
information. The following problems need to be
overcome:

• Attenuation
• Material (or Chromatic) Dispersion
• Modal (or Waveguide) Dispersion

☜ ☞
Attenuation

Solution
A repeater re-amplifies and re-shapes the signal back to the
original shape. It boosts that signal at varies points in the

☜ ☞
journey.
Material (or Chromatic) Dispersion

Solution
Restrict the number of wavelengths travelling through the
core of the optical fibre. However, this will restrict the amount

☜ ☞
of information transmitted.
Modal (or Waveguide) Dispersion

Solution
A graded-index fibre will slow down the rays of light in the
centre. Large-angle rays will travel quicker and “catch up”.

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