Phys 531 Lecture 6 13 September 2005

Fresnel Relations
Last time, starting looking at how light propagates
across boundaries.
Scattering idea law of reection, Snells law
Generalized to Fermats principle
Important question:
How much light will be reected vs transmitted?
Answer today using Maxwell equations
1
Outline:
Boundary conditions for E and B
Fresnel equations
Brewsters angle
Reectance and transmittance
Everything today from Hecht 4.6
Next time: when the Fresnel equations become
complex
2
Boundary Conditions
Maxwell equations in medium:

0
E = P B = 0
B =
0
P
t
+
0

0
E
t
E =
B
t
P = macroscopic polarization =
0
E
Now consider = (r)
Rewrite:

0
[(1 +)E] = 0 B = 0
B =
0

t
_
(1 +)E
_
E =
B
t
3
Recall
0
(1 +) , electric permittivity
Convenient to dene D = E
Electric displacement (units C/m
2
)
Then have
D = 0 B = 0
B =
0
D
t
E =
B
t
Hides charges of medium, even when crossing
boundaries
Works for conductors too, if complex
4
Know how wave propagates in uniform medium
Dont know how to relate D, E and B on opposite
sides of boundary
Easiest to go back to integral form:
If D = 0, then
_

_
D dS = 0
See what this says about boundary
5
Make little pillbox surface on boundary:
area A small but nonzero
height h 0
A
h
n
2
1
n
Then
_

_
D dS A(D
1
D
2
) = 0
where D

= compenent of D normal to boundary

So D

is continuous across boundary

6
Also have
_
E dl =
__
B
t
dS
Make little loop normal to boundary
length L small
height h 0
h
n
2
1
n
L
7
Then
_
E dl L(E
1
E
2
)
E

= component of E parallel to boundary

And
__
B
t
dS
Lh
2
_
B
1
t
+
B
2
t
_
= 0 for h 0
So E

is continuous across boundary

8
Similarly, from
_

_
B dS = 0 and
_
B dl =
0
__
D
t
dS
show that B

and B

are continous
So B is same on either side of boundary
Note: only true for nonmagnetic materials
(normal in optics)
Hecht gives general formulas
9
Apply continuity conditions to boundary n
i
n
t
Three elds:
Incident E
i
= E
i0
e
i(k
i
rt)
Reected E
r
= E
r0
e
i(k
r
rt)
Transmitted E
t
= E
t0
e
i(k
t
rt)
Here k
i
= n
i

k
i
etc. Also have B =
n
c

kE for each
Want to determine E
r
and E
t
if given E
i
10
Set up coordinates
n
t
n
i
k
x
y
z
i
k
t
k
r

t
so k
y
= 0 always
At z = 0, have:
B
i
+B
r
= B
t
E
ix
+E
rx
= E
tx
E
iy
+E
ry
= E
ty
n
2
i
E
iz
+n
2
i
E
rz
= n
2
t
E
tz
Question: Wait, where did those n
2
s come from?
11
E
x
equation says
E
i0x
e
i(k
ix
xt)
+E
r0x
e
i(k
rx
xt)
= E
t0x
e
i(k
tx
xt)
for all x
Only possible if k
ix
= k
rx
= k
tx
Implies sin
i
= sin
r
and n
i
sin
i
= n
t
sin
t
Gives law of reection, Snells law
So x dependence drops out, leaves equations for
amplitudes E
0
, B
0
example: E
i0x
+E
r0x
= E
t0x
12
Easiest to separate two cases:
Case I: E
i0x
= 0
Then all E
x
components = 0
So E
0
s are to plane of incidence
Called s-polarized or TE-polarized
Case II: E
i0y
= 0
Then all E
y
components = 0
So E
0
s are in plane of incidence
Called p-polarized or TM-polarized
Can write general wave as superposition of these
13
Case I: E y
n
t
n
i
x
y
z
E
i
E
t
E
r
B
i
B
t
B
r

t
So B in xz-plane
Continuity:
E
i0y
= E
i0
etc,
so E
i0
+E
r0
= E
t0
For B:
B
i0x
= B
i0
cos
i
B
r0x
= B
r0
cos
i
B
t0x
= B
t0
cos
t
14
Have B
i0x
+B
r0x
= B
t0x
, and
B
i0x
=
n
i
c
E
i0
etc.
so
n
i
E
i0
cos
i
+n
i
E
r0
cos
i
= n
t
E
t0
cos
t
Two equations, two unknowns E
r0
and E
t0
(B
z
equation is redundant)
15
Solve:
(E
i0
E
r0
)n
i
cos
i
= E
t0
n
t
cos
t
= (E
i0
+E
r0
)n
t
cos
t
E
i0
(n
i
cos
i
n
t
cos
t
) = E
r0
(n
i
cos
i
+n
t
cos
t
)
Write E
r0
= r

E
i0
for
r

=
n
i
cos
i
n
t
cos
t
n
i
cos
i
+n
t
cos
t
r

= amplitude reection coecient

(for TE polarization)
16
Then get E
t0
:
(E
i0
E
r0
)n
i
cos
i
= E
t0
n
t
cos
t
E
t0
=
n
i
cos
i
n
t
cos
t
(1 r

)E
i0
Dene E
t0
= t

E
i0
t

=
n
i
cos
i
n
t
cos
t
(1 r

)
=
n
i
cos
i
n
t
cos
t
2n
t
cos
t
n
i
cos
i
+n
t
cos
t
17
So t

=
2n
i
cos
i
n
i
cos
i
+n
t
cos
t
amplitude transmission coecient
(s-polarization)
This solves case I
Question: What happens to r

and t

if n
i
= n
t
?
18
Case II:
n
t
n
i
x
y
z
E
i
E
t
E
r
B
i
B
t
B
r

t
Now have B plane
B
i0
+B
r0
= B
t0
or n
i
E
i0
+n
i
E
r0
= n
t
E
t0
For E: E
i0x
= E
i0
cos
i
E
r0x
= E
r0
cos
i
E
t0x
= E
t0
cos
t
E
i0
cos
i
E
r0
cos
i
= E
t0
cos
t
19
Solve, get E
r0
= r

E
i0
, E
t0
= t

E
i0
r

=
n
t
cos
i
n
i
cos
t
n
i
cos
t
+n
t
cos
i
t

=
2n
i
cos
i
n
i
cos
t
+n
t
cos
i
Call rs, ts Fresnel coecients, equations are
Fresnel relations
20
Note: signs depend on picture set up
vs.
Gives opposite sign for rs
Hechts set up most common
Question: At normal incidence r

= r

. How are the

actual directions of E
inc
and E
ref
related?
21
For now consider n
i
< n
t
: external incidence
Plot for air (n
i
= 1) glass (n
t
= 1.5)
Need to use Snells Law to get
t
cos
t
=
_
1 sin
2

t
=

_
1
n
2
i
n
2
t
sin
2

i
Question: Do we need to worry about with square root?
22
23
Features:
r

= r

at
i
= 0
No physical dierence between TE and TM
Picture dierence gives minus sign
r 1 as
i
90

Everything reects at glancing incidence

r

0 at
i
=
p
Usually called Brewsters angle
Hecht calls polarization angle
Demo!
24
Brewsters angle important for lasers
best way to minimize reections
Solve r

= 0: n
t
cos
p
= n
i
cos
t
Get sin
p
=
n
t
_
n
2
i
+n
2
t
n
n
(
n


+
n


)
t
i
t
2
i
2
1
/
2
P

Get some insight:

See tan
p
= n
t
/n
i
So n
i
sin
p
= n
t
cos
p
But n
t
cos
p
= n
i
cos
t
so sin
p
= cos
t

p
+
t
= 90

25
Picture:
E
i
E
t
E
r

p
Atoms in transmitted
medium oscillate along E
t
Dipole radiation 0
in direction of oscillation
Brewsters angle:
when direction of oscillation =

k
reect
For air glass,
p
= 56.3

26
Note, r and t are amplitude coecients:
give E-elds
Usually more interested in transmitted and reected
power P
Dene reectance R = P
ref
/P
inc
transmittance T = P
trans
/P
inc
Get P from Poynting vector S:
Plane waves: S =
n
2
0
|E
0
|
2

k
27
Power through area dA = S udA
u = normal to surface
here

k u = cos
So P
inc
=
n
i
2
0
|E
i0
|
2
cos
i
dA
P
re
=
n
i
2
0
|E
j0
|
2
cos
i
dA
P
trans
=
n
t
2
0
|E
t0
|
2
cos
t
dA
28
Then
R =
P
ref
P
inc
=
|E
r0
|
2
|E
i0
|
2
= |r|
2
and
T =
P
trans
P
inc
=
n
t
cos
t
|E
t0
|
2
n
i
cos
i
|E
i0
|
2
=
n
t
cos
t
n
i
cos
i
|t|
2
Extra factors in T make sense:
n accounts for dierence in speed
cos accounts for dierence in area
29
w
i
w
r
w
t
Here w
t
> w
i
Irradiance decreases even
if all power transmitted
Can show R +T = 1 for both and cases
Energy conserved (if n is real)
30
31
Summary:
Maxwell equations give continuity relations
Fresnel coecients r, t relate E
inc
, E
ref
, E
trans
Two cases (= TE = s) and (= TM = p)
are dierent
TM case exhibits Brewsters angle, r(
p
) = 0
Fresnel coes related to power reectance R,
transmittance T
Air-glass boundary reects 4% at
i
= 0
32