Question

A beam of unpolarized light in air strikes a flat piece of glass at an angle of incidence of 54.2 degrees. If the reflected beam is completely polarized, what is the index of refraction of the glass? ( show work)

A. 1.60
B. 1.39
C. 1.52
D. 2.48

Answer 1

From what is known in the law of reflection, the angles of the incident light that are not polarized and the polarized angle are equal, so that physical relationship can be written as

`n = tan\theta_p`

Where

`\theta_p`= Angle of polarized light with the normal

n = Refractive Index of the Glass

Our value of the Angle is 54.2°, then

n = tan 54.2

n = 1.39

The correct answer is B.