This SparkNote will apply what we have learned about scattering to the familiar

concept of reflection and the perhaps less familiar concept of refraction, the
bending of light upon transmission into a dielectric medium. We will see how the
macroscopic laws of reflection and refraction (Snell's Law) are a result of the
interaction of many atomic and sub-microscopic scatterers. In both cases, the laws
can be derived directly from the boundary conditions implied by Maxwell's
equations. When considering refraction we will study the related phenomenon of
dispersion, exploring cases in which the amount of bending of a light ray is
dependent upon its frequency (or its wavelength). It is this effect which causes the
splitting of white light into a spectrum of colors (different wavelengths) by a prism.
The notion of total internal reflection (TIR), responsible for the transmission of light
through optic fibers, will also be explored. Finally, from Maxwell's equations we will
deduce the so-called Fresnel Equations, which allow the relative amplitude of
reflected and refracted rays to be computed as a function of the angle from the
normal to the interface.
In the last section we will examine a very practical aspect of optics by applying the
laws of reflection and refraction to geometrical optics proper. This analysis treats
light as always propagating in straight lines, ignoring the finite wavelength and thus
neglecting any interference or diffractive effects. Ray tracing for mirrors and lenses
has immediate and obvious practical applications in the design of microscopes,
telescopes, and other optical instruments.