Angle of a thin prism – Rankers Physics
Topic: Ray Optics
Subtopic: Refraction by Prism

Angle of a thin prism

A ray of light is incident normally on one face of a thin prism of refractive index \(mu\) and emerges at an angle (e) from the normal. Angle of prism \(A\) is nearly
\(\frac{e}{mu}\)
\(\mu e\)
\(\frac{1-e}{\mu}\)
\(\mu\left(\frac{\pi}{2} - e\right)\)

Solution:

For normal incidence on the first face, the angle of refraction \(r_1 = 0\), which implies \(r_2 = A\). Applying Snell's law at the second face for small angles, \(e \approx \mu r_2 = \mu A\), giving \(A \approx \frac{e}{\mu}\).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *