Unpolarised light is incident from air on a plane surface of material of refractive index μ. At some incidence angle i, the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular. Which option is correct?
Options

Question

Unpolarised light is incident from air on a plane surface of material of refractive index μ. At some incidence angle i, the reflected and refracted rays are perpendicular. Which option is correct?

G1 Physics · Accepted Answer

Step 1: The rays are perpendicular at Brewster incidence, satisfying tan i_B = μ (light from air). Step 2: The reflected light then contains only s-polarised component, whose electric field is perpendicular to plane of incidence. Step 3: Therefore option B is correct (angle is tan⁻¹ μ, not tan⁻¹ 1/μ). Final answer: (B).