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Prelab: Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

A light ray from air (n0 = 1.0) enters stack of different media of varying refractive index.
The ray strikes the air-medium 1 interface at an angle of 40 . Calculate the angle of
refraction at the medium 3- air interface.

Prelab: Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

EXPERIMENT
Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

Objectives
By the end of this activity, you should be able to:
investigate the reflection and refraction of light using an optical disk
measure the index of refraction of a material using the optics set-up
trace the path of light as it emerges from optical materials of different geometries

Introduction
The complete description of electric and magnetic fields, and their interaction are summarized in four equations known as Maxwells equations. The formulation of these equations
led to a breakthrough in the understanding of light as they revealed that light is in fact,
an electromagnetic wave traveling with speed c = 3 108 m/s in vacuum. The study
of light by treating light waves as rays traveling in straight paths and considering the
limit where the wavelength of light is much smaller than the dimensions of any obstacle
it encounters is referred to as geometric optics. In this activity, you will study, using
geometric methods, the propagation of light as it encounters a surface separating two
media.

Theory
Light travels slower in any media other than vacuum. The ratio of the speed of light in
vacuum c and the speed of light in the medium v given by:
n=

c
v

(1)

is called index of refraction n. When light strikes a smooth interface separating two
transparent media of different indices of refraction, part of the incident light is reflected
while part of it is refracted or transmitted into the second media. This is illustrated in
Figure 1.
Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

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Physics 72.1

Figure 1: Reflection and refraction at an interface of two media with indices of refraction
n1 and n2 .

Reflection
The angle 1 between the incident ray and the line perpendicular to the interface, called
the normal, is referred to as the angle of incidence. On the other hand, the angle 10
between the reflected ray and the normal is referred to as the angle of reflection. The
angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection as stated by the law of reflection:
1 = 10

(2)

A common optical device that exhibits the law of reflection is the mirror. Two of the
simpler types of mirrors are plane mirrors and spherical mirrors. Spherical mirrors can
be either convex (diverging) or concave (converging).

Refraction
The ray that enters the second medium is called the refracted ray. The angle 2 , which
the refracted ray makes with the normal, is called the angle of refraction. It depends on
the angle of incidence and the relative speed of light in the two media. If v1 and v2 are
the speed of light in the first and second medium, respectively, 1 and 2 are related by
1
1
sin 1 =
sin 2
v1
v2

(3)

Equation 3 is known as the law of refraction or Snells law and is commonly expressed as
n1 sin 1 = n2 sin 2

(4)

where n1 and n2 are the indices of refraction of the first and second medium, respectively.

Total internal reflection

When n1 is greater than n2 , the refracted ray emerges tangent to the interface if 1 is
equal to the critical angle c for the two media. In this case, 2 is 90 . The critical angle
can be found from Snells law where 1 = c and 2 = 90 . Hence,
c = sin1

n2
n1

(5)

For angles of incidence greater than c , there is no refracted ray and the incident ray is
completely reflected. This phenomenon is called total internal reflection.
Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

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Materials
The following materials are required for the experiment:
Plain light source
Optical bench
Optical disk
Parallel ray lens
Slit plate
Slit mask
Cylindrical lens (semi-circular glass)
Mirror
Triangular glass
Trapezoidal glass
Double convex lens
Double concave lens
Desk lamp

Procedure
Alignment of optics
1. Mount the light source and the optical disk on the optical bench. The side of the
disk with grids should face up.
2. Produce multiple rays on the optical disk by placing the slit plate between the light
source and the optical disk. The room may be darkened to make the rays more
visible. Use the desk lamp to ease working in the dark.
3. Make the rays in the previous step parallel by placing the parallel ray lens between
the slit plate and the optical disk. Adjust the position of the slit plate and the
parallel ray lens until the parallel rays coincide with the grids of the optical disk.
4. Place the slit mask between the parallel ray lens and the optical disk to produce
a single ray coincident on the 0 0 axis of the optical disk. Rotate the optical
disk or adjust other optical components to make the single ray coincident with the
0 0 axis of the optical disk.This ray will serve as the incident ray when verifying
the laws of reflection and refraction.
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Reflection by plane and spherical mirrors

1. Perform alignment of optics.
2. Place the plane mirror (flat surface) on the disk such that the mirror coincides with
the 90 90 axis or the component axis of the optical disk. Make sure that the
center of the mirror and the center of the disk coincides. If the incident ray strikes
the center of the disk/mirror, the reflected ray will coincide with the 0 0 axis.
Reflected ray not coinciding with the 0 0 axis might be due to a misaligned
mirror along component axis or other misaligned optical elements.
3. Rotate the optical disk such that the incident ray strikes the center of the disk/mirror
at a different angle of incidence. Note that the angle labels on the disk are measured
from the normal or 0 reference angle. Obtain the corresponding angle of reflection
and record it in Table W1.
4. Rotate the disk to change the angle of incidence to two different values. Obtain the
corresponding angle of reflection for each angle of incidence. Record your results in
Table W1.
5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for a convex mirror as well as a concave mirror. Record your
results in Table W1.
Ray tracing for plane and spherical mirrors
1. Implement Figures 2a to 2c. The single slit could be adjusted to allow two or more
rays to be incident on the mirror surface.
2. Observe and draw the path of the incident rays after being reflected by the mirror
on Figure 5.

Figure 2: Optical disk diagrams for investigating reflection of light by plane and spherical
mirrors. Dashed line indicates the optical axis.

Reflection and refraction in glass

1. Perform alignment of optics.
2. Replace the mirror with the semicircular glass (cylindrical lens). The flat surface
of the glass should coincide with the component axis of the optical disk. Make sure
that the center of the mirror and the center of the disk coincides. If the incident ray
strikes the center of the glass/disk, the reflected and refracted rays coincide with
the 0 0 axis.
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3. Rotate the optical disk such that the incident ray is at 10 angle from the normal.
Obtain the angles of reflection and refraction then record your reading in Table W2.
4. Obtain the angles of reflection and refraction for angles of incidence equal to 20
until 50 , at increments of 10 , then record the results in Table W2.
5. Calculate for the index of refraction of the semicircular glass then record the calculated values in Table W2.
6. Rotate the optical disk (not the semicircular glass) by 180 such that the incident
ray strikes the curved side of the semicircular glass. Make sure that the incident ray
strikes the curved surface and passes through the center of the disk and the center
of the flat surface for the reflected and refracted ray to coincide with the 0 0
axis.
7. Complete Table W3.
Total internal reflection
1. Go back to step 6 of the previous subsection (Reflection and refraction in glass).
2. Rotate the optical disk to vary the angle of incidence from 0 until 90 . Observe
the refracted ray as the disk is rotated.
3. Obtain the angle of incidence when the refracted ray is parallel to the flat surface.
Record this in Table W4 as the critical angle.
4. Using the critical angle, calculate the index of refraction of the semicircular glass.
5. Calculate the speed of the ray inside the semicircular glass.
Ray tracing for different refracting media
1. Implement the diagrams in Figure 3. The single slit could be adjusted to allow two
or more rays to be incident on the different refracting media.
2. Draw the corresponding ray traces of the path of the incident light as it passes
through the different refracting media in Figure W2.

Figure 3: Optical disk diagrams for investigating rays through different refracting media.
Dashed line indicates the optical axis.

Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

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Physics 72.1
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Data Sheet

Table W1: Reflection by plane and spherical mirrors

Angle of Reflection
Angle of Incidence
Plane Mirror Convex Mirror Concave Mirror

Figure 4: Ray tracing for plane and spherical mirrors.

Table W2: Reflection and refraction in glass with incident ray striking the flat surface
Angle of Incidence Angle of Reflection Angle of Refraction Index of Refraction
10
20
30
40
50
Sample calculations for the experimental index of refraction in Table W2.

Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

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Physics 72.1

Table W3: Reflection and refraction in glass with incident ray striking the curved surface
Angle of Incidence Angle of Reflection Angle of Refraction Index of Refraction
10
20
30
40
50
Sample calculations for the experimental index of refraction in Table W3.

Table W4: Total internal reflection

Critical angle c
Index of refraction of glass n
Speed of light inside the semicircular glass
Sample calculations for the experimental index of refraction in Table W4.

Figure 5: Ray tracing for different refracting media.

Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction

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Questions
1. Is the law of reflection obeyed for both plane and spherical mirrors? Explain.
2. In the Reflection and refraction in glass part of the experiment, the index of refraction of glass was calculated using the flat and curved sides of a semicircular
glass.
(a) Complete the ray diagram by tracing the path of the reflected and refracted
light in Figures a and b below.

(b) The angles of incidence, reflection and refraction were all measured in air,
regardless of whether the flat or the curved side faces the incident light. Justify
this using your answer in the previous item and the fact that the glass is
semicircular.
3. In Table W2, the angle of incidence is 1 and the angle of refraction is 2 . If the
angle 2 is used as the angle of incidence in Table W3, will you obtain 1 as the
angle of refraction? Explain.
4. Explain why the ray is not transmitted beyond a definite angle. Describe what
happens beyond this definite angle.

Optical Disk - Reflection and Refraction