Chapter 34 and 35 Lecture

physics
FOR SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS

a strategic approach
THIRD EDITION

randall d. knight
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 34 Ray Optics

Chapter Goal: To understand and apply the ray model

of light.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-2
The Ray Model of Light

 Let us define a light ray as a line in the direction along

which light energy is flowing.
 Any narrow beam of light, such as a laser beam, is
actually a bundle of many parallel light rays.
 You can think of a single light ray as the limiting case
of a laser beam whose diameter approaches zero.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-19

The Ray Model of Light

 Light travels through a

transparent material in
straight lines called light rays.
 The speed of light is v  c/n,
where n is the index of
refraction of the material.
 Light rays do not interact with
each other.
 Two rays can cross without
either being affected in any
way.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-20

The Ray Model of Light

Light interacts with matter in four different ways:

At an interface between two materials, light can be
either reflected or refracted.
Within a material, light can be either scattered or
absorbed.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-21

The Ray Model of Light

 An object is a source of light rays.

 Rays originate from every point on the
object, and each point sends rays in all
directions.

 The eye “sees” an object

when diverging bundles
of rays from each point
on the object enter the
pupil and are focused to
an image on the retina.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-22

Objects

 Objects can be
either self-luminous,
such as the sun,
flames, and
lightbulbs, or
reflective.
 Most objects are
reflective.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-23

Objects

 The diverging rays from a point source are emitted in

all directions.
 Each point on an object is a point source of light rays.
 A parallel bundle of rays could be a laser beam, or
light from a distant object.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-24

Specular Reflection of Light

Reflection from a flat, smooth surface, such as a

mirror or a piece of polished metal, is called specular
reflection.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-32

Reflection

The law of reflection states that:

1. The incident ray and the reflected ray are in the same
plane normal to the surface, and
2. The angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence:
r =  I

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-33

Diffuse Reflection

 Most objects are seen by virtue of their reflected light.

 For a “rough” surface, the law of reflection is obeyed
at each point but the irregularities of the surface cause
the reflected rays to leave in many random directions.
 This situation is
called diffuse
reflection.
 It is how you see
this slide, the
wall, your hand,
your friend, and
so on.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-38

Refraction

Two things happen when a light ray is incident on a

smooth boundary between two transparent materials:
1. Part of the light reflects
from the boundary,
obeying the law of
reflection.
2. Part of the light continues
into the second medium.
The transmission of light
from one medium to
another, but with a
change in direction, is
called refraction.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-48
Refraction

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-49

Refraction

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-50

Indices of Refraction

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-51

Refraction

 When a ray is transmitted into a material with a higher

index of refraction, it bends toward the normal.
 When a ray is transmitted into a material with a lower
index of refraction, it bends away from the normal.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-52

QuickCheck 23.4

A laser beam passing

from medium 1 to
medium 2 is refracted as
shown. Which is true?

A. n1 < n2.
B. n1 > n2.
C. There’s not enough
information to compare
n1 and n2.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-53

QuickCheck 23.4

A laser beam passing

from medium 1 to
medium 2 is refracted as
shown. Which is true?

A. n1 < n2.
B. n1 > n2.
C. There’s not enough
information to compare
n1 and n2.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-54

 Example
 A light ray in air is incident on a
transparent material whose index of
refraction is n. Find an expression (in
terms of n and nair ) for (non-zero) angle
of incidence whose angle of refraction is
half the angle of incidence.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
  air

2
 air  air
note : sin  air  2 sin cos
2 2
  n 1  n 
nair sin air  n sin   n sin 2air  cos 2air    air  2cos  
2nair 2 n
 air 

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Frequency Between Media
 As light travels from
one medium to
another, its frequency
does not change
• Both the wave speed
and the wavelength do
change
• The wavefronts do not
pile up, nor are created
or destroyed at the
boundary, so ƒ must
stay the same
22
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
 More About Index of
Refraction
 The previous relationship can be
simplified to compare wavelengths and
indices: λ1n1 = λ2n2
 In air, n1 1 and the index of refraction
of the material can be defined in terms
of the wavelengths
λ  λ in vacuum 
n  
λn  λ in a medium 
23
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
Total Internal Reflection

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-61

Total Internal Reflection

 When a ray crosses a boundary into a material with a lower

index of refraction, it bends away from the normal.
 As the angle 1 increases, the refraction angle 2 approaches
90, and the fraction of the light energy transmitted decreases
while the fraction reflected increases.
 The critical angle of incidence
occurs when 2 = 90:

 The refracted light vanishes

at the critical angle and the
reflection becomes 100%
for any angle 1 > c.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-60
QuickCheck 23.5

A laser beam undergoes two

refractions plus total internal
reflection at the interface
between medium 2 and
medium 3. Which is true?

A. n1 < n3.
B. n1 > n3.
C. There’s not enough
information to
compare n1 and n3.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-62
QuickCheck 23.5

A laser beam undergoes two

refractions plus total internal
reflection at the interface
between medium 2 and
medium 3. Which is true?

A. n1 < n3.
B. n1 > n3.
C. There’s not enough
information to
compare n1 and n3.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-63
Fiber Optics

 The most important modern application of total internal

reflection (TIR) is optical fibers.
 Light rays enter the glass fiber, then impinge on the
inside wall of the glass at an angle above the critical
angle, so they undergo TIR and remain inside the glass.
 The light continues to “bounce” its way down the tube as
if it were inside a pipe.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-67

Fiber Optics

 In a practical optical fiber, a small-diameter glass core

is surrounded by a layer of glass cladding.
 The glasses used for the core and the cladding have:
ncore  ncladding

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-68

Color and Dispersion

 A prism disperses white light into various colors.

 When a particular color of light enters a prism, its
color does not change.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-76

Color

 Different colors are associated with light of different

wavelengths.
 The longest wavelengths are perceived as red light and
the shortest as violet light.
 What we perceive as white light is a mixture of all colors.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-77

Dispersion

 The slight variation of index of refraction with

wavelength is known as dispersion.
 Shown is the dispersion curves of two common
glasses.
 Notice that n is
larger when the
wavelength is
shorter, thus
violet light
refracts more
than red light.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-78

 Dispersion Example.

33
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Example
 A hydrogen discharge lamp emits light with
two prominent wavelengths; 656 nm (red)
and 486 nm (blue). The light enters a flint-
glass prism perpendicular to one face and
then refracts through the hypotenuse back
into the air. The angle between these two
faces is 35 degrees. nred  1.572 nblue  1.587.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Question cont.
 A. Draw the path of the incident,
refracted and emerged rays and show
the angle between the two emergent
red and blue rays.

 B. What is the angle between red and

blue light as it leaves the prism.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
 1  (1.572)sin35 
nred sin 35  nair sin  red  red  sin    64.4
 1.00 

1  (1.587)sin35 
nblue sin 35  nair sin  blue   blue  sin    65.5 
 1.00 

   blue   red  1.1

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Rainbows

 One of the most interesting sources of color in nature

is the rainbow.
 The basic cause of the rainbow is a combination of
refraction, reflection, and dispersion.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-79

Rainbows

 A ray of red light reaching your eye comes from a

drop higher in the sky than a ray of violet light.
 You have to look higher in the sky to see the red light
than to see the violet light.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-80

Colored Filters and Colored Objects

 Green glass is green because it absorbs any light

that is “not green.”
 If a green filter and a red filter are overlapped, no
light gets through.
 The green
filter transmits
only green
light, which is
then absorbed
by the red
filter because
it is “not red.”
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-83
Colored Filters and Colored Objects

 The figure below shows the absorption curve of

chlorophyll, which is essential for photosynthesis in
green plants.
 The chemical reactions of photosynthesis absorb red
light and blue/violet light from sunlight and puts it to use.
 When you look at
the green leaves
on a tree, you’re
seeing the light that
was reflected
because it wasn’t
needed for
photosynthesis.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-84
Light Scattering: Blue Skies and Red Sunsets

 Light can scatter

from small particles
that are suspended
in a medium.
 Rayleigh scattering
from atoms and
molecules depends
inversely on the
fourth power of the
wavelength:
Iscattered -4

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-85

Light Scattering: Blue Skies and Red Sunsets

 If we take 650 nm for

red light and 450 nm for
blue light, the intensity of
the scattered blue light
relative to the scattered
red light is
I blue 650 4
( ) 4
I red 450
 4 times more blue light
is scattered toward us
than red light and thus,
the sky appears blue.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-85

Light Scattering: Blue Skies and Red Sunsets

Sunsets are red because all the blue light has scattered as the sunlight passes through the atmosphere.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23-86

 Resolution
 For a full discussion of
resolution of optical
instruments, Rayleigh’s
criterion and numerical
examples see the summary
of lectures in chapter 33.
22-100
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
 More examples
Light of wavelength 700 nm is incident on the face of a
fused quartz prism (n=1.458 at 700 nm) at an incident
angle of 75.0o . The apex angle of the prism is 60.0o .
Draw a diagram, show and calculate the angle (a) of
refraction at the first surface, (b) of incident at the
second surface, (c) of refraction at the second
surface,(d) between the incident and the emerging
rays. (e) What would be the maximum incident angle
on the first surface so that the TIR happens on the
second surface.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
 
(e) n sin  3  (1.00) sin 90
 1
1 o
  3  sin ( )  43.3
1.458

   90   3  46.7 o

    180  (60   )  73.3o


 2  90     16.7 o

 
(1.00) sin 1  n sin  2
 1  o
 1  sin ( n sin  2 )  24.8
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.