beam of white light is incident on the surface of a diamond at an angle θa. (Figure 1) Since the index of refraction depends on the light's wavelength, the different colors that comprise white light will spread out as they pass through the diamond. For example, the indices of refraction in diamond are
A beam of white light is incident on the surface of a diamond at an angle θa. (Figure 1) Since the index of refraction depends on the light's wavelength, the different colors that comprise white light will spread out as they pass through the diamond. For example, the indices of refraction in diamond are nred=2.410for red light and nblue=2.450blue=2.450 for blue light. Thus, blue light and red light are refracted at different angles inside the diamond, as shown in the picture. The surrounding air has nair=1.000 Note that the angles in the figure are not to scale.
Now consider θc, the angle at which the blue refracted ray hits the bottom surface of the diamond. If θc is larger than the critical angle θcrit, the light will not be refracted out into the air, but instead it will be totally internally reflected back into the diamond. Find θcrit.
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