Reflection and Refraction of Electromagnetic Waves at a Glass-Air Interface

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the reflection and refraction of y-polarized electromagnetic waves at a glass-air interface, specifically focusing on a wave with a vacuum wavelength of 600nm propagating in glass with a refractive index of 1.4. The original poster presents a problem involving two incident angles, 45 and 80 degrees, and seeks to derive expressions for the reflected and transmitted electric fields, as well as to determine any evanescent fields and their penetration depth into air.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to apply Snell's law and derive the reflected amplitude for the case of 45 degrees incidence but expresses uncertainty about the correctness of their approach. They question whether they have accounted for all necessary reflections and refractions at the interface.

Discussion Status

The discussion appears to be ongoing, with the original poster seeking guidance and reassurance about their calculations. There is a sense of urgency as they express a need for help and validation of their work, but no explicit solutions or consensus have been reached among participants.

Contextual Notes

Participants have noted the complexity of the problem and the potential for misunderstanding the interactions at the glass-air interface. The original poster has indicated a struggle with the material and has requested assistance multiple times, highlighting the challenging nature of the homework assignment.

Zaheer
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1. Consider a y-polarized electromagnetic wave with vacuum wavelength 600nm that is propagating in glass and then incident on a glass-air interface; use n=1.4 for glass. Take the interface surface to be the y-z plane, and the plane of incidence to be the x-z plane. Consider 2 incident angles, 45, and 80 degrees. Take the amplitude of the incident field to be Eo.

Write complete expressions for the reflected and transmitted electric fields If there are any evanescent fields, determine the depth of penetration into air.

Homework Equations


I've determined the E-field to be perpendicular to the plane of incidence so
r(perpendicular)= (E0r/E0i)= (nicos(thetai)-ntcos(thetat))/nicos(thetai)+ntcos(thetat)
then snells law nisin(thetai)=ntsin(thetat)
Then Possibly the O.P.L= INtegral from S to P n(s)ds
OPL/lamda0=s/lamda
t=OPL/c
where OPL is the Optical path length, n(s) is the index of refraction incident as a function of position.

The Attempt at a Solution


Okay, so I began with attempting to solve for the reflected E-field. So I first used Case 1 where thetai= 45. I solved for theta t, and got 30.3 degrees. then solved for the reflected amplitude and got -o.5016 (obtained by plugging in values to the E0r equation. So I wrote the Reflectance to be the following

r(perpendicualar)= -0.5016/Eo. I don't think that's right at all due to the fact that it should also refract in glass, then reflect so off air, and refract in air, I only took the case where it relfects of glass. I am almost completley stuck, tried reviewing sections to try and understand this problem better but haven't been able to. Could anyone just help shoot me in the right direction please? Thanks.
 
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bump, really needing help please
 
HELPPPPPPPP
AHHHH
 
BUMP
 
HOLY bump again. At this point I've done the problem. I just want some reassurance.
 
Hi Zaheer could you please respond to my messege I believe you must have been taking phy2311 at uottawa, because I had been searching for answers to the assignments and usually come across your posts, could you please write back to me if you find a minute I have a question from you. Thank you in advance.
 

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