What is unpolarized light? Explain with the help of a suitable ray diagram how an unpolarized light can be polarized by reflection from a transparent medium. Write the expression for Brewster angle in terms of the refractive index of the denser medium.
Solution
Unpolarized light: light in which the electric field vibrates with equal probability in all directions in the plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation. Polarization by reflection: when unpolarized light is incident on a transparent surface, the reflected and refracted components are partially polarized. At a particular angle of incidence, the polarising angle iB, the reflected ray is completely plane polarized with vibrations parallel to the reflecting surface (perpendicular to the plane of incidence); at this angle the reflected and refracted rays are mutually perpendicular. Brewster’s relation:
taniB=μ
where μ is the refractive index of the denser medium with respect to the rarer medium.