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    Feynman Lectures on Physics

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    Vol 2 Ch 33 - Surface Reflection

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    Feynman Lectures on Physics

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    118 views13 pages

    Vol 2 CH 33 - Surface Reflection

    Uploaded by

    Luisellys
    Feynman Lectures on Physics

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 13
    Keflection from Surfaces 3341 Reflection and refraction of light The subject of this chapter is the reflection and refraction of ight—or electro~ magnetic waves in general—at surfaces. We have already discussed the laws of reflection and refraction in Chapter 35 of Volume I. Here's what we found out there: 1. The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. With the angles defined as shown in Fig. 33-1, a = 6, ean 2. The product 1 sin is the same for the incident and transmitted beams. (Snell's law). ny sin 8, = np sin @32) 3. The intensity of the reflected light depends on the angle of incidence and also on the direction of polarvation, For E perpendicular to the plane of ieidence, the reflection coefficient Ry is _ ty _ sin? (0, — 00 Re nF OF 8) G33) For E parallel to the plane of incidence, the reflection coefficient Ri 1s _ he _ tan? a, = 8) ht 8) G4) 4. For normal ineidence (any polarization, of course!), Je ‘ng — ny\? io (a8) ws (Earlier, we used 1 for the meident angle and r for the refracted angle Since we can't use 7 for both “refracted” and “reflected” angles, we are now using 8, incident angle, &, = reflected angle, and 9, = transmitted angle.) Our earlier discussion is really about as far as anyone would normally need to go with the subject, but we are going to do it all over again a different way Why” One reason is that we assumed before that the indexes were real (no ab= sorption in the materials) But another reason is that you should know how to deal with what happens to waves at surfaces from the point of view of Maxwell's equations. We'll get the same answers as before, but now from a straightforward solution of the wave problem, rather than by some clever arguments We want to emphasize that the amplitude of a surface reflection 1s not & property of the material, as is the index of refraction It 1s a “surface property. one that depends precisely on how the surface is made, A thin layer of extraneous junk on the surface between two materials of indices n) and na will usualy change the reflection. (There are all kinds of possibilities of iaterference here—lke the colors of oil films. Suitable thickness can even reduce the reflected amplitude to zero for a gwen frequency: that's how coated lenses are made.) The formulas we wll derive are correct only i the chunge of index 1s sudden—within a distance very small compared with one wavelength. For light, the wavelength is about 5000 A, so by a “smooth” surface we mean one in which the conditions change in mo 33-1 Reflection and refraction of light 33-2 Waves in dense materials 33-3 The boundary conditions 33-4 The reflected and transmitted 33-5 Reflection from metals 33-6 Total internal reflection Review. Chapter 35, Vol. 1, Polarization f ng Fig. 33-1. Reflection and refraction of light waves at @ surface. (The wave directions are normal to the wave crests \ wave chegrs ven Fig. 33-2. For a wove moving in the direction k, the phase at any point P is ot — ker). going a distance of only a few atoms (or a few angstroms). Our equations will work for light for highly polished surfaces. In general, if the index changes grad- ually over a distance of several wavelengths, there is very hitle reflection at all. 33-2 Waves in dense materials First, we remind you about the convenient way of describing a sinusoudal plane wave we used in Chapter 36 of Volume I. Any field component inthe wave (we use Eas an example) can be written in the form B= Been, 36) where E represents the amplitude at the point r ({rom the origin) at the time f The vector k points in the direction the wave is travelling, and its magnitude ik) = k = 2x/nisthe wavenumber. The phase veloty ofthe waves run = /k, for a light wave ina material oF mdex m, ry, = c/n, 30 no @sn Suppose k is in the z-direction, then k «rs just kz, as we have often used 1€ For 4 in any other direction, we should replace z by ri, the distance from the origin sn the k-direction; that 1s, we should replace kz by kr, which 1s just kr. (See Fig. 33-2.) So Eq, (33.6) is a convenient representation of a wave mn any direction, We must remember, of course, that kor hax t ky +k, where k,, ky, and k, are the components of k along the three axes. In fuct, we pointed out once that (a, Kr, ky. k.) is & four-vector, and that its scalar product with (t,x, ys 2) is an invariant. So the phase of a wave is an invariant, and Eq. (33.6) could be written B= Ee But we don’t need to be that fancy now. For a sinusoidal E, as in Eq. (33.6), 9£/0r isthe same as iw, and 9E/Ax is ~tk,E, and so on for the other components. You can see why itis very convenient {o use the form in Eq. (33 6) when working with differential equations—differentia- tions are replaced by muluplications. One further useful point: The operation ¥ = (a/ax, 0/0, 0/02) gets replaced by the three multiplications (ih, —iky ~ik,). But these three factors transform as the components of the vector &, $0 the operator ¥ gets replaced by multiphcation with —ik: a ar va Wik (3.8) ‘This remains true for any ¥ operation—whether it 18 the gradient, oF the diver- gence, or the curl. For instance, the z-component of ¥ X E is aE, _ ak, ax If both E, and E, vary as e~"*, then we get Atk eEy + IkyE. which 1s, you see, the z-component of —ik % E. ‘So we have the very useful general fact that whenever you have to take the gradient of a vector that varies as a wave in three dimensions (they are an important part of physics), you can always take the derivations quickly and almost without thinking by remembering that the operation ¥ 1s equivalent to multiplication by ik, cred For instance, the Faraday equation op vxee becomes for a wave

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