Lab Experiments 295

KamalJeeth Instrumentation and Service Unit

Experiment-351 A

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF
FRESNEL’S EQUATIONS FOR
REFLECTION OF
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
K Chandrasekhara Reddy and D Sailaja
Department of Physics, S.S.B.N.Degree & P.G. College (Autonomous), Anantapur-515001.A.P. INDIA.
E-mail:sailajabhushan@gmail.com

Abstract
The Fresnel’s equations, deduced by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, describe the
behaviour of light when moving through media of different refractive indices. The
equations relating the amplitudes of the reflected and transmitted waves with the
amplitude of the incident waves are known as Fresnel’s equations or Fresnel’s
formulae. The reflection of light predicted by these equations is known as the
Fresnel reflection. Using a polarizer analyzer pair, Fresnel’s equations for
reflection of electromagnetic waves are experimentally verified.

Introduction
Light waves are electromagnetic in nature. Light waves coming directly from a source
usually vibrate randomly in all directions at right angles to the wave normal. When light is
plane polarized, the components of its vibrations in some plane are transmitted or reflected to
the exclusion of the other components. The eye is unable to detect such a selection of
components. Although the intensity is reduced to 50 % in the most efficient polarizer, its
rotation causes no change in intensity. However, if a second polarizing device operates on the
polarized light, it will transmit or reflect only the cosine components in its plane of vibration.

By considering the behaviour of electric and magnetic fields at a dielectric boundary

(between air and glass), Fresnel derived equations which relate the amplitude and intensity of
reflected and transmitted waves with the corresponding value of the incident wave [1-3].

Theory
Fresnel’s equations for reflection of electromagnetic waves at the interface of two non-
magnetic dielectric media (air and glass) are

Ars sin(θ1 − θ 2 )
=
Ais sin(θ1 + θ 2 ) …1
Arp tan(θ1 − θ 2 )
=
Aip tan(θ1 + θ 2 ) …2

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KamalJeeth Instrumentation and Service Unit

Here Ai and Ar are the amplitude of the electric field vectors of the incident and the reflected
wave respectively. The subscript ‘p’ indicates that the electric vector is parallel to the plane
of incidence (p-polarization), and the subscript ‘s’ indicates that the electric vector is
perpendicular to the plane of incidence (s-polarization). θ1 and θ2 are the angles of
incidence and refraction respectively. Dividing Equation-1 by Equation-2 gives

tanα r cos(θ1 − θ 2 )
=-
tanα i cos(θ1 + θ 2 ) …3

Here α r is the angle between the plane of polarization of the reflected light and the plane of
incidence. α i is the angle between the plane of polarization of the incident light and the
plane of incidence. The validity of Equation-3 would, therefore, imply the verification of
Fresnel’s equations.

The angles θ1 and θ2 are related by the well known Snell’s Law:

sin θ1
n=
sin θ 2 …4

where n is the refractive index of the refracting medium.

When the angle of incidence θ1 equals Brewster’s angle θ B , where tan θ B = n, the reflected
light does not contain p-polarization. Here the reflected and the refracted rays are at right
angles to each other such that θ1 + θ 2 =900.

The experiment is performed with the help of a prism, the refractive index n of its material is
determined by

n = Sin( A + D m ) / 2
SinA / 2 …5

where is the angle of the prism and Dm is the angle of the minimum deviation of a ray of
monochromatic light refracted through its principle section.

Apparatus used

Spectrometer, prism, a pair of polaroids, sodium light, spirit level etc.

Experimental procedure
Preliminary adjustments of the spectrometer are made. The refractive index ‘n’ of the
material of the prism is determined for sodium light by using the spectrometer (n=1.6). Now
the polarizing angle or Brewster’s angle θ B is determined for the material of the prism with
the help of Brewster’s law
−1
Tan θ B = n (or) θ B = tan n (Table-I)

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KamalJeeth Instrumentation and Service Unit

Table-1
Refractive
Index n
θ B = tan −1 n

1.6 580

Brewster’s angle θ B

The prism is removed from the prism table, and the telescope is set to receive the direct
image of the slit. The junction of the cross wires is made to coincide with the centre of the
image by moving the telescope slowly with the help of its tangent screw. This initial position
of the telescope is recorded. The telescope is then rotated through an angle (180-2 θ B ) and is
clamped at this position.

The reflecting faces of the prism are cleaned and the prism is placed on the prism table
which is turned such that the parallel beam of light from the collimator is reflected from the
face of the prism and enters the telescope (Figure- 1).The image of the slit can now be
observed through the telescope. The centre of the image is made to coincide at the junction of
the cross wires. At this position, the angle of incidence on the reflecting surface of the prism
is θ B and the reflected light does not contain the p-polarization.

Figure-1: Determination θB

Figure-2: Experimental Set-up

Polaroid with a graduated circular scale and capable of rotation is mounted in front of the
telescope. The polaroid is rotated till the light is extinguished or the intensity of the image
produced by the slit becomes minimum. This initial position of the Polaroid which is now set
parallel to the plane of incidence is recorded.

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KamalJeeth Instrumentation and Service Unit

The prism is removed and the telescope with the Polaroid is brought to its initial position.
Another Polaroid is mounted on the collimator which is rotated till the light gets cut off, as
seen through the telescope. For this setting of the collimator Polaroid, the plane of
polarization of the incident light is vertical, that is perpendicular to the plane of incidence.
This position of the collimator Polaroid is recorded in Table- 2.

Table-2
Initial Positions
Telescope Telescope Polaroid Collimator Polaroid
1800 00 357030’ 72030’
Initial positions for the experiment

The collimator polaroid is rotated through an angle, θ C =300, so that the plane of polarization
of the incident light is inclined to the plane of incidence (which is horizontal) at an angle

αi =900- θ C .

The collimator polaroid is rotated through an angle, θ C =300, so that the plane of polarization
of the incident light is inclined to the plane of incidence (which is horizontal) at an angle

θ1 = (180o − β ) / 2 .For θ1 =400, β =1000.

The telescope Polaroid is rotated from its initial setting through an angle θ t , so that the light
is extinguished. It may be noted that θ t can be both positive and negative, depending on the
direction of rotation with respect to the initial position. Thus the plane of polarization of the
reflected light is inclined at the plane of incidence by an angle

α r =900- θ t .

The values of α r for several different values of the angle of incidence, θ t , are recorded in
table-3 and experiment is repeated for θC = 450 and 600 (Table-3 , 4, and 5) .

Table-3
No. of Telescope Angle of Telescope tan α r
Observations αi Rotation incidence Polaroid αr tan α i
(=90- θC) β θ1= Rotation (=90- θt)
degrees degrees (1800-β)/2 θt degrees degrees
degrees
1 600 1000 400 15012’ 74052’ 2.134
2 600 900
45 0
110 790 2.970
3 600 800
50 0
07006’ 82054’ 4.635
Collimator Polaroid rotation θC=300

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KamalJeeth Instrumentation and Service Unit

Table-4
Angle of Telescope
αi αr
Telescope incidence Polaroid tan α r
No.of Rotation β θ1= Rotation
Observations
(=90- θC)
degrees (1800-β)/2 θt
(=90- θt) tan α i
degrees degrees
degrees degrees
1 450 1000 400 250 650 2.144
2 450 900 450 19018’ 70042’ 2.855
3 450 800 500 12012’ 77048’ 4.625
Collimator polaroid rotation, θC=450

Table-5
Angle of
αi Telescope Telescope αr
No.of incidence tan α r
Rotation Polaroid
Observation θ1=
s
(=90- θC) β
(1800-β)/2
Rotation (=90- θt) tan α i
degrees degrees θt degrees degrees
degrees
1 300 1000 400 38006’ 51054’ 2.208
2 300 900 450 31006’ 58054’ 2.871
3 300 800 500 200 700 4.758
Collimator Polaroid rotation, θC=600

Table-6
No.
θ2 =
of -
(sin-1
Obs sin θ 1 cos(θ1 − θ tan α r
erv θ1 (θ1- θ2)
atio Degr n ) Degree (θ1+ θ2) cos(θ1 + θ tan α i
Set ns ees Degrees s Degrees Remarks
1 40 23040’ 16019’ 63040’ 2.254 2.134

2 45 26012’ 18048’ 71012’ 2.937 2.970

I
(θC=300) 3 50 28.6 21024’ 78036’ 4.710 4.635
The values of
0 ’ 0 ’ 0 ’
1 40 23 40 16 19 63 40 2.254 2.144
tan α r
2 45 26012’ 18048’ 71012’ 2.937 2.855
II tan α i
(θC=450) 3 50 28.6 21024’ 78036’ 4.710 4.625
and
1 40 23040’ 16019’ 63040’ 2.254 2.208
cos(θ1 − θ 2 )
2 45 26012’ 18048’ 71012’ 2.937 2.871 -
III cos(θ1 + θ 2 )
(θC=600) 3 50 28.6 21024’ 78036’ 4.710 4.758
are nearly
equal.

Verification of Fresnel’s equations

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KamalJeeth Instrumentation and Service Unit

For different values of angle of incidence θ1, the corresponding values of the angle of
refraction θ2 are determined using the Snell’s law (Equation-4).

cos(θ1 − θ 2 ) cos(θ1 − θ 2 )
The values of - are calculated and presented in Table-6.
cos(θ1 + θ 2 ) cos(θ1 + θ 2 )

tan α r cos(θ1 − θ 2 )
A graph is plotted between and - which is a straight line with slope
tan α i cos(θ1 + θ 2 )
of 450, thus verifying the Fresnel’s equations.

Results
tan α r
cos(θ1 − θ 2 )
The values of and -
are found to be nearly equal, thus verifying
tan α i
cos(θ1 + θ 2 )
tan α r cos(θ1 − θ 2 )
Fresnel’s equations experimentally. The graph plotted between and -
tan α i cos(θ1 + θ 2 )
0
is a straight line, with slope 45 (Figure-2), verifying Fresnel’s equations graphically.

5.0 B enter text here 5.0

5.0

4.5 4.5
4.5

4.0 4.0
4.0

3.5 3.5
3.5

3.0 3.0
3.0

2.5 2.5
2.5

2.0 2.0
2.0

2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
X Axis Title

tan α r tanαi/

tan α r tanαi /
tan α r tanαi
/

Figure-2: variation of Cos (θ1-θ2)/ Cos (θ1+θ2) versus tanαr tanαi

References

[1] Joseph Valasec, Introduction to theoretical and experimental optics , John Wiley &
sons Inc, New York.

[2] F.A.Jenkins and H.E White, Fundamentals of Optics (4th edition) McGraw Hill,
NewYork, 1976.

[3] D.Chatopadhyay and P.C.Rakshit, An advanced course in Practical Physics-, New

Central Book Agency (P) Ltd, Kolkata.

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