Why does light enter the second medium during total internal reflection?

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
1 reply · 2K views
arash1r
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Hi And Need Help
The main Question is what happens to light and cause go into next medium as total internal reflection happens for incident angles higher than critical angle ?
so the main question is why the light path throughout the second medium?
We know when light travels from a medium with a higher refractive index to one with a lower refractive index, according to Snell's law light in such cases is completely reflected by the boundary to the first medium, a phenomenon known as total internal reflection. so the main question is why the light path throughout the second medium?
My main propose is to achieve a physical interpretation of this paradoxical duality .
 
Physics news on Phys.org
At internal reflection, the light does not travel in the second medium, but there is an electric field there in the form of exponentially decaying standing wave.

ehild