5.6. FRESNEL’S FORMULAS 219
Application 5.2.
1. Study, for a large angle, the changes of the Brewster angle and the slope of
the reflection coefficient. Choose n
1
from a value close to n
2
to values much
smaller than n
2
. Save the case n
1
smaller than n
2
for FileFig 5.4.
2. Make graphs for n
1
1 and n
2
for two different refractive indices. Study
the changes of the argument, the Brewster angle, and the slope of the reflec-
tion coefficient at large angles, that is, at grazing angle incidence. Make the
difference of n
2
and n
2
larger and smaller.
3. Look at the transmission coefficients for the p- and s-cases and plot them on
one graph. Study the difference of the two for different refractive indices n
2
.
5.6.5 Light Incident on a Less Dense Medium, n
1
>n
2
,
Brewster and Critical Angle
5.6.5.1 Brewster Angle
In FileFig 5.3 we have plotted the reflection and transmission coefficients for
light incident on a less dense medium. One sees that the general shape of the
reflection and transmission coefficientsare the same as found for the case n
1
<n
2
discussed in Section 5.6.4, and the Brewster angle is present for the parallel case.
5.6.5.2 Critical Angle and Phase Shifts
At a larger angle than the Brewster angle, called the critical angle θ
c
, the curves
for the absolute value of r
p
and r
s
approach 1, while the transmission coefficients
decrease to 0. All arguments of r
p
and r
s
, and t
p
and t
s
decrease after the critical
angle. We apply the law of refraction to this case and find that the refraction
angle becomes imaginary when the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle
given by
sin θ
c
n
2
/n
1
, (5.66)
where n
1
is the medium with the larger index of refraction, from which the light
is incident on the interface. The question of real and imaginary refraction angles
is studied in FileFig 5.4.
FileFig 5.3 (M3FRN2S)
Fresnel’s formulas for the case n
1
>n
2
. Graphs are shown of the absolute value
and the argument of r
p
, r
s
, and t
p
, t
s
, depending on the angle of incidence θ.
The choice of n
1
1 and n
2
1.5 presents the case for light incident on a
glasslike material. The Brewster angle appears again for r
p
and for both r
p
and