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Mastering Optical Phenomena: Total Internal Reflection and Atmospheric Refraction

Explore total internal reflection, atmospheric refraction, dispersion, and lens aberrations in optics. Understand critical angles, fiber optics, mirages, and rainbow formation. Learn about correcting spherical and chromatic aberrations in lenses.

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Mastering Optical Phenomena: Total Internal Reflection and Atmospheric Refraction

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  1. Refraction Optical Phenomena

  2. Total Internal Reflection • Total internal reflection – the complete reflection of light at the boundary of two transparent media; this effect occurs when the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle • No light passes through the boundary • Critical angle – the minimum angle of incidence for which total internal reflection occurs • Light will travel parallel to the boundary • Can only occur when moving to a medium with a lower index of refraction • ni>nr • Used in fiber optics because almost no light intensity is lost • Sinθc = nr/ni • Sine of the critical angle = (index of refraction of the second medium) / (index of refraction of the first medium)

  3. Total Internal Reflection

  4. Atmospheric Refraction • Atmospheric refraction allows us to see while the sun is below the horizon • Before sunrise and after sunset • Mirages are observed when the air at ground level is much hotter than the air above it • Since gases have different densities based on temperature, they have different indices of refraction based on temperature • This produces both a real and a virtual image at the same point

  5. Atmospheric Refraction

  6. Dispersion • Dispersion – the process of separating polychromatic light into its component wavelengths • Using a prism to view the color spectrum • Violet light refracts the most • Red light refracts the least • When water droplets in the atmosphere cause dispersion and that light is totally internally reflected, a rainbow is visible

  7. Dispersion

  8. Dispersion

  9. Lens Aberrations • Imperfections in the lenses cause aberrations so all rays are not focused at the focal point • Most common are spherical and chromatic aberration • Spherical aberration – the rays at the edges of the lens have a different focal length than rays near the center • Chromatic aberration – the focusing of different colors of light at different distances behind a lens • Corrected by using a series of converging and diverging lenses made up of different types of glass

  10. Lens Aberrations

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