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Lecture 24 PDF

The document summarizes key topics related to light scattering and reflection. It discusses how (1) light scatters via reflection, refraction, absorption/reemission, and diffraction to allow us to see objects. (2) Blue light scatters most in the atmosphere, which is why the sky appears blue. (3) Total internal reflection allows light to be trapped in fiber optic cables and light pipes, enabling faster and more information-dense signal transmission compared to copper wires.

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Nathan King
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80 views

Lecture 24 PDF

The document summarizes key topics related to light scattering and reflection. It discusses how (1) light scatters via reflection, refraction, absorption/reemission, and diffraction to allow us to see objects. (2) Blue light scatters most in the atmosphere, which is why the sky appears blue. (3) Total internal reflection allows light to be trapped in fiber optic cables and light pipes, enabling faster and more information-dense signal transmission compared to copper wires.

Uploaded by

Nathan King
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The End Game

Next week: Thanksgiving Holiday.


Following week: Quiz 5
Week after that: last two lectures.
Friday after that: Final Exam.
Remaining topics: for Quiz 5, geometric optics,
interference effects; for the last week, sources of light.

Scattering of Light
To see something, light must scatter from that object into
your eyes.
Light can essentially scatter in four related ways:
Reflection (today): it bounces off an object.
Everything reflects. Metals reflect almost perfectly.
Refraction: light changes direction as it passes from
one transparent material to another.
Absorption/reemission: light can transfer energy in the
EM wave to atoms making up the substance. This
process can change frequency.
Diffraction: light bends around objects.

The sky

A.
B.
C.
D.

Considering what you would observe on a nice day,


which color of light do you think scatters most in the
atmosphere?
Blue.
Red.
Yellow.
White (all colors scatter the same).

Rayleigh Scattering
This process describes scattering at the atomic level.
The probability for light to scatter depends strongly on l,
with blue light scattering more. IS(W,l1)/IS(W,l2)=l24/l14.
This is why the sky is blue during the day and red
towards the horizon at sunlight.

Refraction

When light passes from one transparent material to


another, several things happen:
1. The light changes direction.
2. The light changes speed (!)
3. The light changes wavelength, but not frequency.
4. The light changes in intensity (some is always
reflected).

Index of refraction

1.

2.
3.
4.

All these effects turn out to hinge on two numbers, the


indexes of refraction, n1, n2 of the two transparent
media
Directional behavior is given by Snells Law:
n1sinq1=n2sinq2, where q1 and q2 are the incident and
refracted angles..
The speed of light within medium i is vi=c/ni.
Because f stays the same, the wavelength in medium i
is li=l/ni, where l is the wavelength in free space.
Two angles produce very interesting effects: total
transmission of one polarization state and total internal
reflection.
You will explore Snells law in studio this week.

Dispersion
For real materials, n=n(l). The index of refraction
usually increases with frequency. Blue light bends more
than red light.

Snells Law
When n2>n1 (e.g., airglass), q2<q1. The light refracts
forward.
When n1>n2 (e.g., glassair), q2>q1. The light refracts
outwards.
Consider the second case and take n2=1. We have
nsinq1=sinq2.
But the biggest sinq2 can be is 1, when q2=90. This
means that the largest possible angle for which
refraction can occur in this situations is q1,max=sin-1(1/n).
What happens for larger q1? All the light reflects!

Total Internal Reflection


This is more than a novelty act!
If we send light into the end of long cylinder
so it always makes a steep angle with the
sides, then the light will stay trapped in the
cylinder.
If its a big cylinder, we call it a light pipe.
A small flexible cylinder we call a fiber optic
strand.

The greatest technological transformation of


your lifetime

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Copper cables are being ripped up everywhere in the


world and replaced with fiber optics for signal
transmission applications. Why?
Fiber optics dissipate less power.
Fiber optics carry more information
Fiber optics are harder to tap.
Fiber optics are lighter.
All of the above.

The greatest technological

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Which is the most important reason?


Fiber optics dissipate less power.
Fiber optics carry more information.
Finer optics are harder to tap.
Fiber optics are lighter.
All are equal.

And.
What signal transmission property makes fiber optics the
winner?
A. Signals propagation speed.
B. Signal frequency.
C. Signal polarization.
D. Signal amplitude.

Bandwidth

An unmodulated signal carries no information.


To transmit the information, we need to change the
signal.
The maximum rate for this is ultimately set by the
underlying carrier frequency.
Copper craps out at a few GHz (~109 Hz). The
frequency of light is hundreds of THz (~1014 Hz).

The Law of reflection


Reflection changes the direction (the Poynting-vector) of
propagation of EM waves, and possibly the amplitude,
leaving the frequency (color) unaffected.
We use the work ray as shorthand for direction of
propagation.
Directions are defined an incident angle qI and a
reflected angle qR defined w.r.t. a normal to the surface.
The rule is simple: qR=qI.

Diffuse and specular reflection

The law of reflection is obeyed for all surfaces.


For very smooth surfaces, the incident and reflected
angles for a plane wave will not change over the surface.
This produces specular reflection. Examples include a
mirror (nothing more than metal covered by glass), a
water surface, a sheet of glass.
For rough surfaces qI and qR change over the surface,
and light coming in at one angle will reflect into many
directions, giving diffuse reflection. An example is the
walls of the room.

Image Formation

Light diverges from the point P, called the object. Some


of its strikes the mirror and reflects into the eye.
At the eye, this light appears to diverge from the image
of the point P, P, which is located behind the mirror.
A little geometry shows that the distances from the
object s and image to the mirror s are the same:
|s|=| s |, as long as the mirror is flat.

Real and Virtual Images

If physical light actual passes through the image point,


then it is a real image. Otherwise it is a virtual image.
Note that virtual does not mean not really there.
If you stood 2 m in front of a plane mirror and aimed
your camera at the mirror, what distance would the
cameras auto-focus adjust to?
A. 2 m.
B. 4 m.
C. It would not be able to focus on anything.

Other image processing

A.
B.
C.
D.

In principle the mirror might perform two other


operations in converting the object to an image:
Magnification: if y is the object height and y the
image height, then it might be that |m|=| y /y|>1
(magnification) or |m|<1, demagnification.
Inversion: sometimes images appear upside-down
relative to the object. Well see that this corresponds
to m<0.
A plane mirror has m=1. Does it do anything to the
object?
It blows up its size.
It inverts.
It switches right with left.
The image is an exact copy of the object.

Mirror Shopping

A.
B.
C.
D.

If you are 56 tall and you stand 4 in front of a mirror,


how tall does the mirror have to be for you to see your
entire body?
29.
4.
56.
8.

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