TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION

Total internal reflection is an optical phenomenon that

happens when a ray of light strikes a medium boundary at an
angle larger than a particular critical angle with respect to the
normal to the surface. If the refractive index is lower than the
other side of the boundary and the incident angle is greater
than critical angle, no light can pass through and all of the
light is reflected. The critical angle is the angle of incidence
above which the total internal reflectance occurs.

When a light beam crosses a boundary between materials with

different kinds of refractive indices, the light beam will be
partially refracted at the boundary surface, and partially
reflected. However, if the angle of incidence is greater (i.e.
the ray is closer to being parallel to the boundary) than the
critical angle – the angle of incidence at which light is
refracted such that it travels along the boundary – then the
light will stop crossing the boundary altogether and instead be
totally reflected back internally. This can only occur where
light travels from a medium with a higher [n1=higher
refractive index] to one with a lower refractive index
[n2=lower refractive index]. For example, it will occur when
passing from glass to air, but not when passing from air to
glass.

Condition for Total Internal Reflection

1. The ray incident on the interface should travel in
optically denser medium.
2. The angle of incidence should be greater than the critical
angle for the given pair of media.

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 OPTICAL DESCRIPTION
Total Internal Reflection can be demonstrated using a semi-
circular block of glass or plastic. A “ray box” shines a narrow
beam of light (a “ray”) onto the glass. The semi-circular shape
ensures that a ray pointing towards the centre of the flat face
will hit the curved surface at the right angle; this will prevent
refraction at the air/glass boundary of the curved surface. At
the glass/air boundary of the flat surface, what happens will
depend on the angle? Where is θc the critical angle
measurement which is caused by the sun or light source
(measured normal to the surface):
 If θ < θc, the ray will split. Some of the ray will reflect off
the boundary, and some will refract as it passes through. This
is not total internal reflection.
If θ > θc, the entire ray reflects from the boundary. None
passes through. This is called total internal reflection.

This physical property makes optical fibres useful and

prismatic binoculars possible. It is also what gives diamonds
their distinctive sparkle, as diamond has an unusually high
refractive index.

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 CRITICAL ANGLE
Critical angle is the angle of incidence of a ray of light,
moving from denser medium to rarer medium, such that the
angle of refraction becomes 90°.
The critical angle is the angle of incidence above which total
internal reflection occurs. The angle of incidence is
measured with respect to the normal at the refractive
boundary (see diagram illustrating Snell’s law).

Consider a light ray passing from glass into air. The light
emanating from the interface is bent towards the glass. When
incident angle is increased sufficiently, the transmitted angle
(in air) reaches 90 degrees. It is at this point no light is
transmitted into air. The critical angle is given by Snell’s
law.

Rearranging Snell’s law, we get incidence

To find the critical angle, we find the value for when

and thus . The resulting value of is equal to the

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critical angle . Now we can solve for , and we get the
equation for the critical angle:
If the incident ray precisely at the critical angle, the refracted
ray is tangent to the boundary at the point of incidence. If for
example, visible light were travelling through acrylic glass
(with an index of refraction of 1.50) into air (with an index
of refraction of 1.00), the calculation would give the critical
angle for light from acrylic glass into air which is

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 PHASE SHIFT UPON TOTAL
INTERNAL REFLECTION

A lesser known aspect of total internal reflection is that the

reflected ray has an angle dependent phase shift between the
reflected and incident light. Mathematically this means that
the Fresnel reflection coefficient becomes a complex rather
than a real number. This phase shift is polarization and
grows as the incidence angle deviates further from the
critical angle toward grazing incidence.
The polarization dependent phase shift is long known and
was used by Fresnel to design the Fresnel rhomb which
allows transforming circular polarization to linear
polarization and vice-versa for a wide range of wavelengths
(colours), in contrast to the quarter wave plate. The
polarization dependent phase shift is also the reason why TE
and TM guided modes have different dispersion relations.

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 TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION IN
DIAMOND

From glass to air the critical angle is about 42o

but it varies from one medium to another. The
material that gives the smallest critical angle is
diamond. That is why they sparkle so much!
Rays of light can easily be made to 'bounce
around inside them' by careful cutting of the
stone and the refraction at the surfaces splits the light into a
spectrum of colours!

Relatively speaking, the critical angle 24.4o for the diamond-

air boundary is extremely small. This property of the
diamond-air boundary plays an important role in the
brilliance of a diamond gemstone. Having a small critical
angle, light has the tendency to become "trapped" inside of a
diamond once it enters. Most rays approach the diamond at
angles of incidence greater than the critical angle (as it is so
small) so a light ray will typically undergo TIR several times
before finally refracting out of the diamond. This gives
diamond a tendency to
sparkle. The effect can
be enhanced by the
cutting of a diamond
gemstone with a
'strategically' planned
shape. The diagram to
the left depicts the total internal reflection within a
diamond gemstone with a 'strategic' and a 'non-strategic' cut.

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 APPLICATIONS OF TOTAL
INTERNAL REFLECTION
 Total internal reflection is the operating principle of
optical fibres, which are used in endoscopes and
telecommunications.
 Total internal reflection is the operating principle of
automotive rain sensors, which control automatic
windscreen/windshield wipers.
 Another application of total internal reflection is the
spatial filtering of light.
 Prismatic binoculars use the principle of total internal
reflections to get a very clear image.
 Gonioscopy employs total internal reflection to view the
anatomical angle formed between the eye's cornea and
iris.
 Optical fingerprinting devices use frustrated total
internal reflection in order to record an image of
a person's fingerprint without the use of ink.
 A Total internal reflection fluorescence microscope
uses the evanescent wave produced by TIR to excite
fluorophores close to a surface. This is useful for the
study of surface properties of biological samples.

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 EXAMPLES IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Total internal reflection can be observed while swimming,
when one opens one's eyes just under the water's
surface. If the water is calm, its surface appears mirror-like.
One can demonstrate total internal reflection by filling a sink
or bath with water, taking a glass tumbler, and placing
it upside-down over the plug hole (with the tumbler
completely filled with water). While water remains both
in the upturned tumbler and in the sink surrounding it, the
plug hole and plug are visible since the angle of refraction
between glass and water is not greater than the critical angle.
If the drain is opened and the tumbler is kept in position over
the hole, the water in the tumbler drains out leaving the glass
filled with air, and this then acts as the plug. Viewing this
from above, the tumbler now appears mirrored because light
reflects off the air/glass interface.
This is different phenomenon from reflection and
refraction. Reflection occurs when light goes back in
same medium. Refraction occurs when light travels from
different mediums. Here both are not happening. This is due
to both and a mixture of both. Another common example of
total internal reflection is a critically cut diamond. This is
what gives it maximum spark.

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TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION IN
A SODA BOTTLE

In this case, nair = 1.00 nwater = 1.33. Therefore:

In this demo light will continually reflect through the

stream of water creating total internal reflection (TIR).
The stream of water will 'carry' the light though, to the
end of the stream.
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 Figure: Total Internal Reflection (TIR) causes light to bend
through a stream of water.

Total Internal Reflection is the principle

behind fiber optics.

Figure: Total Internal Reflection is used to carry light in fiber

optics.

Materials
 empty soda pop bottle (2 liter)

 tape

 hand drill

 drill bits

 water

 green laser

 bucket

 old books, etc for stands

Procedure

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First set up the soda bottle by drilling a hole near the
bottom of the bottle. Begin with a drill bit that has a
diameter which is slightly larger than the diameter of the
laser that will be used. We used a 1/4 inch drill bit, however
sizes as small as 7/32 inch worked as well.
1. First tape the hole and then fill the bottle with water.
The cap will prevent leaking because it creates a
vacuum in the bottle.
2. Stand the soda bottle on top of a stack of books so
the hole is facing the bucket. The laser should be
placed in a binder clip so it stays on, and then set on
a stack of books and papers. The laser should be
lined up so that the laser light goes through the soda
bottle, and into the center of the hole. See Figure 2
for details.
3. Carefully remove the tape and then unscrew the top
of the soda bottle. The light should reflect within
the stream of water so that you could see at least a
few points of reflection. The light should be visible
through the entire stream.
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 4. If the reflection of the light is not clear, it may be
necessary to expand the hole by drilling through the
existing hole with a larger drill bit. This process
may need to be repeated several times.

Notes
 This is a messy experiment. Be ready to adjust the
bucket which catches the stream of water.
 Also be aware that the stream's curvature will change
as the water level decreases. It will bend closer to the
bottle, and the bucket may need to be adjusted again.
When the water level is a little above the hole there
will be no total internal reflection although the
stream will continue. Place the cap back on, or put
the bottle inside of the bucket.
 Make sure to have lots of paper towels! Towels or
rags could be useful too. However, this mess is water,
and therefore easy to clean up.
 Some resources suggest putting a drop of food
coloring in the bottom of the bucket to match the
laser light, giving the appearance that the water has
permanently 'trapped' the colored light.

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 Applications of Total Internal
Reflection
1. Totally Reflection Prism :
To deviate a ray of light through 90o and 180o.
A right angled isosceles prism can be used to cause total
internal reflection. In such a right angled prism when a ray
of light is incident normally to its face AB, it passes into
prism as incidence is 45o. But for glass, the value of
critical angle is about 41.8o. Since the value of incident
angle is greater than the critical angle for glass, the ray of
right suffers total internal refection. As a result, it gets
incident on the force AC at 90o and comes out of the prism
as such. It follows that the path of the ray of right was
been deviated by the prism through 90o.
The path of a ray undergoing a deviation of 90o due to one
internal reflection but in same way and by same process
due to two internal reflection, a ray can be deviated
through 180o. This arrangement is used in prism-
binoculars.
Advantages of Totally Reflecting Prism over the
Silvered Plane Mirror.
 A reflecting prism does not require any silvering.
 A silvered plane mirror always absorbs some light. In a
good mirror, the reflection of light about 90-95%.
However, in a reflecting prism, almost 100% reflection
is secured.
 Due to imperfect and non-uniform silvering of the
mirror, the image obtained with a mirror is oftenly not
of a good quality.

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2. Mirage :
It is an optical illusion observed in desert in a hot day. The
object such as tree is observed inverted and observer gets
an impression that there is a pool of water. This
phenomena is known as mirage.
Due to intense heat, the surface of earth becomes quite hot
and the temperature of air near the surface of earth is max.
The temp of the other layers of the air goes on decreasing
as one goes up. Dimity as well as refractive index of air
increases slightly for higher layers. Thus a ray of light
traveling from point O of a tree passes through air of
gradually decreasing refractive index and is therefore
refracted more and more away from the normal and
accordingly the angle of incidence goes on increasing. At
a layer, when the angle of incidence becomes greater than
the critical angle, total internal reflection takes place.
Then the ray of light starts traversing layers of increasing
refractive index and goes on bending more and more
towards the normal. Ultimately, when the ray reaches the
eye of the observer, it appears to be coming from the point
I. Hence the inverted image of the tree produces the
impression of reflection from a pool of water.

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5.Optical Fibres :

In 1870, John Tyndall, a British physicist demonstrated

that light could be made to follow curved path along a thin
stream of water coming out of a water tank. This effect
was made use of an illuminated fountains. The light
follows curved path it suffers a series of total internal
reflections.
Optical fibres commits of thousands of strands of a very
fine quality glass or quartz of refractive index about 1.7 or
so. The thickness of a strand is about 10-6 cm. The strands
are coated with a layer of some material of lower
refractive index (θ=1.5).
When light is incident at a small angle at are end, it gets
refracted into strands and gets incident on the interface of
the fibres and the coating. The angle of incidence being
greater than critical angle, the ray of light undergoes total
internal reflections. Each fibre act as a pipe and such a
bundle of fibres can be used to convey images along paths
of any shape. The optical fibre does not bend light.
Instead, light follows the zin-zag path through the fibres.

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5. Looming :
It is an optical illusion observed in the cold countries. In
which observers get an impression that object is placed in
air.

Uses
i) Optical fibres are used inn the field of communication
and the computers.
ii) The optical fibres are used for making medical
investigation.
iii) The optical fibre sensors have been used to measure
temperature and pressure.
iv) The optical are used for transmitting the optical signals
and the two dimensional pictures.
v) The optical fibre in the form of photometric sensors are
used for measuring the blood flow in the heart.
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vi) The optical fibre in the form of refract meters are used
to determine the refractive indices of liquids.
vii) Optical fibre are used in telephone and other
transmitting cables.
viii) Optical fibre are used in transmission and reception
of electrical signals by converting them first into light
signal.

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