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Physics Question 19 – NEET-UG 2024

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An unpolarised light beam strikes a glass surface at Brewster's angle. Then

Understand how light interacts with a surface, leading to reflection and refraction, and how these processes can affect the polarization state of light.

Step 1: Recall Brewster's Law✦ Active

Brewster's Law describes the phenomenon where, when unpolarised light is incident on a transparent surface at a specific angle (Brewster's angle, ip), the reflected light becomes completely plane-polarised. At this angle, the reflected ray and the refracted ray are perpendicular to each other.

Step 2: Determine Polarization of Reflected Light○ Expand

According to Brewster's Law, when unpolarised light strikes a surface at Brewster's angle, the reflected light is completely plane-polarised. Its electric field vibrations are perpendicular to the plane of incidence.

💡 Teacher's Secret Hint

The reflected light is polarized perpendicular to the plane of incidence.

Step 3: Determine Polarization of Refracted Light○ Expand

While the reflected light is completely polarised, the refracted light is only partially polarised. It contains a mixture of both parallel and perpendicular components of the electric field, though the perpendicular component is often dominant.

💡 Teacher's Secret Hint

Remember that only the reflected light is completely polarized at Brewster's angle, not the refracted light.

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