Activities

• Select Incidence to check that the three rays lie on the same plane.
• Check Snell's law by changing the incidence angle θ_i = θi with the slider on the left.
• Set a small incidence angle and select for n2/n1 a value smaller than 1, so that light moves faster in the second medium. By increasing the incidence angle show that at some time the refracted ray disappears. Check the numerical value of this critical angle for total internal reflection.
• Set Epar=Eper and delta = 90°, so that the incident ligth is circularly polarized. By changing the incidence angle check Brewster's law, according to which the reflected light is linearly polarized in the direction perpendicular to the plane of incidence (and parallel to the surface) when θ_i + θ_r = π/2.
• Set normal incidence (θ_i = 0) and discuss in which cases the reflection introduces a phase difference equal to π.