TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

ABSTRACT:
Total internal reflection, in physics, complete reflection of a ray of light within a
medium such as water or glass from the surrounding surfaces back into the
medium.The phenomenon occurs if the angle of incidence is greater than a certain
limiting angle, called the critical angle. In general, total internal reflection takes place
at the boundary between two transparent media when a ray of light in a medium of
higher index of refraction approaches the other medium at an angle of incidence
greater than the critical angle. For a water-air surface the critical angle is 48.5°.
Because indices of refraction depend on wavelength, the critical angle (and hence
the angle of total internal reflection) will vary slightly with wavelength and, therefore,
with colour. At all angles less than the critical angle, both refraction and reflection
occur in varying proportions.

OBJECTIVE: To Study About Total Internal Reflection

THEORY:
Total Internal Reflection (TIR) is the phenomenon that makes the water-to-air
surface in a fish-tank look like a perfectly silvered mirror when viewed from below
the water level (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Underwater plants in an aquarium, and their inverted images (top) formed by total internal
reflection in the water-air surface.

Technically, TIR is the total reflection of a wave incident at a sufficiently oblique

angle on the interface between two media, of which the second ("external") medium
is transparent to such waves but has a higher wave velocity than the first ("internal")
medium. TIR occurs not only with electromagnetic wave such as light waves
and microwaves, but also with other types of waves,
including sound and water waves. In the case of a narrow train of waves, such as
a laser beam, we tend to speak of the total internal reflection of a "ray" (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Repeated total internal reflection of a 405 nm laser beam between the front and back
surfaces of a glass pane. The colour of the laser light itself is deep violet; but its wavelength is
short enough to cause fluorescence in the glass, which re-radiates greenish light in all directions,
rendering the zigzag beam visible.

Refraction is generally accompanied by partial reflection. When a wavetrain is

refracted from a medium of lower propagation speed (higher refractive index) to a
medium of higher propagation speed (lower refractive index), the angle of refraction
(between the refracted ray and the normal to the refracting interface) is greater than
the angle of incidence (between the incident ray and the normal to the interface).
Hence, as the angle of incidence approaches a certain limit, called the critical
angle , the angle of refraction approaches 90°, at which the refracted ray becomes
tangential to the interface. As the angle of incidence increases beyond the critical
angle, the conditions of refraction can no longer be satisfied; so we have no
refracted ray, and the partial reflection becomes total. In an isotropic medium such
as air, water, or glass, the ray direction is simply the direction normal to
the wavefront.
If the internal and external media are isotropic with refractive indices n1 and n2
respectively, the critical angle is given by θ = arcsin(n2/n1) , and is defined if
n2 ≤ n1.  For example, for visible light, the critical angle is about 49° for incidence
from water to air, and about 42° for incidence from common glass to air.
Details of the mechanism of TIR give rise to more subtle phenomena. While total
reflection, by definition, involves absolutely no continuing transfer of power
across the interface, the external medium carries a so-called evanescent wave,
which travels along the interface with an amplitude that falls off exponentially with
distance from the interface. The "total" reflection is indeed total if the external
medium is lossless (perfectly transparent), continuous, and of infinite extent, but can
be conspicuously less than total if the evanescent wave is absorbed by a lossy
external medium ("attenuated total reflectance"), or diverted by the outer boundary
of the external medium or by objects embedded in that medium ("frustrated" TIR).
Unlike partial reflection between transparent media, total internal reflection is
accompanied by a non-trivial phase shift (not just zero or 180°) for each component
of polarization (normal or parallel to the plane of incidence), and the shifts vary with
the angle of incidence. The explanation of this effect by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in
1823, added to the evidence in favor of the wave theory of light.
The phase shifts are utilized by Fresnel's invention, the Fresnel rhomb, to modify
polarization. The efficiency of the reflection is exploited by optical fibers (used
in telecommunications cables and in image-forming fiberscopes), and by reflecting
prism such as erecting prisms for binoculars.
OPTICAL DESCRIPTION:
Although total internal reflection can occur with any kind of wave that can be said to
have oblique incidence, including (e.g.) microwaves[1] and sound waves,[2]  it is most
familiar in the case of light waves.
Total internal reflection of light can be demonstrated using a semicircular-cylindrical
block of common glass or acrylic glass. In Fig. 3, a "ray box" projects a narrow beam
of light (a "ray") radially inward. The semicircular cross-section of the glass allows
the incoming ray to remain perpendicular to the curved portion of the air/glass
surface, and thence to continue in a straight line towards the flat part of the surface,
although its angle with the flat part varies.

Fig. 3: Total internal reflection of light in a semicircular acrylic block.

Where the ray meets the flat glass-to-air interface, the angle between the ray and
the normal to the interface is called the angle of incidence.[3] If this angle is
sufficiently small, the ray is partly reflected but mostly transmitted, and the
transmitted portion is refracted away from the normal, so that the angle of
refraction (between the refracted ray and the normal to the interface) is greater than
the angle of incidence. For the moment, let us call the angle of incidence θi and the
angle of refraction θt (where t is for transmitted, reserving r for reflected).
As θi increases and approaches a certain "critical angle", denoted by θc (or
sometimes θcr), the angle of refraction approaches 90° (that is, the refracted ray
approaches a tangent to the interface), and the refracted ray becomes fainter while
the reflected ray becomes brighter.[4] As θi increases beyond θc, the refracted ray
disappears and only the reflected ray remains, so that all of the energy of the
incident ray is reflected; this is total internal reflection (TIR). In brief:
 If  θi < θc, the incident ray is split, being partly reflected and partly refracted;
 If  θi > θc, the incident ray suffers total internal reflection (TIR); none of it is
transmitted.
CRITICAL ANGLE:
The critical angle is the smallest angle of incidence that yields total reflection.[5] For
light waves and other electromagnetic waves in isotropic media, there is a well-
known formula for the critical angle in terms of the refractive indices. For some other
types of waves, it is more convenient to think in terms of propagation velocities
rather than refractive indices. The latter approach is more direct and more general,
and will therefore be discussed first.
When a wavefront is refracted from one medium to another, the incident (incoming)
and refracted (outgoing) portions of the wavefront meet at a common line on the
refracting surface (interface). Let this line, denoted by L, move at velocity u across
the surface where u is measured normal to L (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Refraction of a wavefront (red) from a medium with lower normal velocity v1to a medium
with higher normal velocity v2. The incident and refracted segments of the wavefront meet in a
common line L (seen "end-on"), which travels at velocity u.

Let the incident and refracted wavefronts propogate with normal velocities V1 and V2
(respectively), and let them make the dihedral angles θ1 and θ2 (respectively) with
the interface.From the geometry V1 is the component of u in the direction normal to
the incident wave, so that v1 = usin θ1 Similarly, v2 = usin θ2 . Solving each equation
for 1/u and equating the results, we obtain the general law of refraction for waves:

But the dihedral angle between two planes is also the angle between their normals.
So θ1 is the angle between the normal to the incident wavefront and the normal to
the interface, while θ2 is the angle between the normal to the refracted wavefront
and the normal to the interface; and Eq. (1) tells us that the sines of these angles
are in the same ratio as the respective velocities.
This result has the form of "Snell's law", except that we have not yet said that the
ratio of velocities is constant, nor identified θ1and θ2 with the angles of incidence and
refraction (called θi and θt above). However, if we now suppose that the media
are isotropic, two further conclusions follow: first, the two velocities, and hence their
ratio, are independent of their directions; and second, the wave-normal directions
coincide with the ray directions, so that θ1 and θ2 coincide with the angles of
incidence and refraction as defined above.
Obviously the angle of refraction cannot exceed 90°. In the limiting case, we put θ2 =
90 and θ1 = θc in Eq. (1), and solve for the critical angle:

In deriving this result, we retain the assumption of isotropic media in order to

identify θ1 and θ2 with the angles of incidence and refraction. For electromagnetic
waves, and especially for light, it is customary to express the above results in terms
of refractive indices. The refractive index of a medium with normal velocity v1 is
defined as n1 = c/v1 where c is the speed of light in a vacuum. Hence v1 =
c/n1.Similarily v2 = c/n2 Making these substitutions in Eqs. (1) and (2), we obtain

Eq. (3) is the law of refraction for general media, in terms of refractive indices,
provided that θ1 and θ2are taken as the dihedral angles; but if the media
are isotropic, then n1 and n2 become independent of direction while θ1 and θ2 may
be taken as the angles of incidence and refraction for the rays, and Eq. (4) follows.
So, for isotropic media, Eqs. (3) and (4) together describe the behavior in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5: Behavior of a ray incident from a medium of higher refractive index n1 to a medium of lower
refractive index n2 ,  at increasing angles of incidence.

According to Eq. (4), for incidence from water (n1 ≈ 1.333) to air (n2 ≈ 1), we have
θc ≈ 48.6° whereas for incidence from common glass or acrylic (n1 ≈ 1.50) to air (n2 ≈
1), to air (n2 ≈ 1), θc ≈ 41.8°.
The arcsin function yielding θc is defined only if n2 ≤ n1. Hence, for isotropic media,
total internal reflection cannot occur if the second medium has a higher refractive
index (lower normal velocity) than the first. For example, there cannot be TIR for
incidence from air to water; rather, the critical angle for incidence from water to air is
the angle of refraction at grazing incidence from air to water (Fig. 6)
The medium with the higher refractive index is commonly described as optically
denser , and the one with the lower refractive index as optically rarer. Hence it is
said that total internal reflection is possible for "dense-to-rare" incidence, but not for
"rare-to-dense" incidence.

Fig. 6: The angle of refraction for grazing incidence from air to water  is the critical angle for
incidence from water to air.

Everyday examples:
When standing beside an aquarium with one's eyes below the water level, one is
likely to see fish or submerged objects reflected in the water-air surface (Fig. 1). The
brightness of the reflected image — just as bright as the "direct" view — can be
startling.
A similar effect can be observed by opening one's eyes while swimming just below
the water's surface. If the water is calm, the surface outside the critical angle
(measured from the vertical) appears mirror-like, reflecting objects below. The
region above the water cannot be seen except overhead, where the hemispherical
field of view is compressed into a conical field known as Snell's window, whose
angular diameter is twice the critical angle (cf. Fig. 6).
The field of view above the water is theoretically 180° across, but seems less
because as we look closer to the horizon, the vertical dimension is more strongly
compressed by the refraction; e.g., by Eq. (3), for air-to-water incident angles of 90°,
80°, and 70°, the corresponding angles of refraction are 48.6° (θcr in Fig. 6), 47.6°,
and 44.8°, indicating that the image of a point 20° above the horizon is 3.8° from the
edge of Snell's window while the image of a point 10° above the horizon is only 1°
from the edge.
Fig. 7, for example, is a photograph taken near the bottom of the shallow end of a
swimming pool. What looks like a broad horizontal stripe on the right-hand
wall consists of the lower edges of a row of orange tiles, and their reflections; this
marks the water level, which can then be traced across the other wall. The swimmer
has disturbed the surface above her, scrambling the lower half of her reflection, and
distorting the reflection of the ladder (to the right). But most of the surface is still
calm, giving a clear reflection of the tiled bottom of the pool. The space above the
water is not visible except at the top of the frame, where the handles of the ladder
are just discernible above the edge of Snell's window.

Fig. 7: Total internal reflection by the water's surface at the shallow end of a swimming pool. The
broad bubble-like apparition between the swimmer and her reflection  is merely a disturbance of
the reflecting surface. Some of the space above the water level can be seen through "Snell's
window" at the top of the frame.

What looks like a broad horizontal stripe on the right-hand wall consists of the lower
edges of a row of orange tiles, and their reflections; this marks the water level, which
can then be traced across the other wall. The swimmer has disturbed the surface
above her, scrambling the lower half of her reflection, and distorting the reflection of
the ladder (to the right). But most of the surface is still calm, giving a clear reflection
of the tiled bottom of the pool. The space above the water is not visible except at the
top of the frame, where the handles of the ladder are just discernible above the edge
of Snell's window.
The critical angle influences the angles at which gemstones are cut. The round
"brilliant" cut, for example, is designed to refract light incident on the front facets,
reflect it twice by TIR off the back facets, and transmit it out again through the front
facets, so that the stone looks bright. Diamond (Fig. 8) is especially suitable for this
treatment, because its high refractive index (about 2.42) and consequently small
critical angle (about 24.5°) yield the desired behavior over a wide range of viewing
angles. Cheaper materials that are similarly amenable to this treatment
include cubic zirconia (index ≈ 2.15) and moissanite (non-isotropic,
hence doubly refractive, with an index ranging from about 2.65 to 2.69, depending
on direction and polarization); both of these are therefore popular
as diamond simulants.

Fig. 8: A round "brilliant"- cut diamond

 EXPERIMENT TO DEMONSTRATE THE PROCESS OF TOTAL
INTERNAL REFLECTION and to show the principle of
optical fibres:
Materials:
 Laser pointer,
 plastic bottle,
 milk,
 container for water
 nail

Procedure:
1. Using the nail, make a hole in the bottle about 5 cm above the
bottom.
2. Place the bottle on an elevated place and fill it with water.
3. Place the container under the bottle, so that it catches the water
spilling out from it.
4. Point the laser beam horizontally through the bottle, so that it
comes through to the hole.
5. Observe the beam in the spilling water.

THEORY:
Refraction of light at the interface of two media is described by Snell’s law
n1sinα=n2sinβ,
where α is the angle of incidence, β angle of refraction and n1, n2 are refractive
indices of the media. In order to observe the total reflection, the light must pass from
an optically denser medium to an optically thinner medium. The propagating wave
refracts away from the normal and with increasing angle of incidence the angle of
refraction increases. When we reach the critical angle, the refraction angle reaches
the largest possible value of 90°. The critical angle is therefore the largest angle of
incidence at which refraction occurs. At larger angles of incidence the refraction
does not occur and the ray is reflected at the interface. We call this a total internal
reflection. On this phenomenon optical fibre are based. In the figure below there is a
ray passing in an optical fibre.
OBSERVATION:
Water reflects the light internally as a result Total Internal Reflection occur and no
light is scattered.
RESULT:
When water comes out of the bottle , its beam is observed to be of same colour as
that of the laser light .Whole light is under the influence of Total Internal Reflection.
No light is scattered or refracted from the path of water comes out.
PRECAUTIONS:
1. For easier penetration of the bottle with a nail, heat the nail above a
candle.
2. The hole should be wider that the width of the laser beam, so that no
unwanted refraction occurs.
3. Above that, the laser beam can pass through the stream of water and you
should be able to see some points of refraction, which visualises the
demonstrated phenomenon.
4. When filling the bottle, it is recommended to seal the hole and the bottle so
that the water does not spill until the experiment is prepared.
5. The effect can be improved by adding a few drops of milk into the water,
which makes the laser beam more visible.

REFERENCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_internal_reflection#References

http://physicsexperiments.eu/1765/total-internal-reflection-in-a-stream-of-water