DETERMINATION OF BREWSTER’S ANGLE FOR GLASS AND PLASTIC USING A

POLARIZED MONOCHROMATIC LIGHT SOURCE

Utsav Hanspal

Physics Honors Research Paper

Dr. Watson
Hanspal 2

INTRODUCTION

When light moves between two media of differing refractive index (n), some of the light

is reflected from the surface of the denser material. This reflected ray’s intensity changes with

changes in the incident angle (θi) of light on the new medium. At one particular angle of

incidence light with a particular polarization is not reflected at all. This loss in light intensity is

due to polarization by reflection and the angle of incidence for which there is no reflected ray is

called the Brewster's angle θB (also known as the Polarization angle). This phenomenon of

polarization by reflection is illustrated in the figure below.

Figure1. Polarization by reflection and Brewster's angle (θB)

Theoretically, polarization by reflection can be explained as follows – When the incident

ray of light crosses the interface, the light is temporarily absorbed by the atoms in the second

medium. Electrons in these energy rich atoms vibrate by oscillating back and forth in the direc-

tion of the electric field vectors (shown in the key of figure 1) in the refracted ray, perpendicular

to the direction the refracted light is traveling. The light is re-emitted by the atoms to form both

the reflected and refracted rays. The fraction of the incident light that is reflected depends on

both the angle of incidence and the polarization direction of the incident light. The functions that

describe the reflection of light polarized parallel and perpendicular to the plane of incidence are
Hanspal 3

called the Fresnel Equations. According to the Fresnel Law when light moves from a medium of

a given refractive index (n1) into a second medium with refractive index (n2), both reflection and

refraction of the light may occur. This can be explained with the aid of a diagram, as shown in

figure 2 below:

Figure2. Illustration of Fresnel’s Law: the incident light ray PO strikes at point O the in-

terface between two media of refractive indexes n1 and n2. Part of the ray is reflected as ray OQ

and part refracted as ray OS. The angles that the incident, reflected and refracted rays make to

the normal of the interface are given as θi, θr and θt, respectively.

The relationship between these angles is given by the law of reflection also called Snell's

law:

n1 sin θi = n2 sin θt

At Brewster’s angle, the reflected and refracted ray are perpendicular to each other (the

angle of 90º indicates the reflected light is completely polarized parallel to the interface). There-

fore the sum of θi + θt = 90º (Refer to figure 2). Or θt = 90º - θi. Incorporating this fact into

Snell’s Law and rearranging it, we get:

n1 sin θi = n2 cos θi

Which implies that, tan θi = n2 / n1

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This tangent angle in fact gives the value for Brewster’s angle (θB), therefore, on final
B

rearrangements we get the final equation to be:

It is important to note that the perpendicular component of polarization is almost always

reflected more strongly than the parallel component (see figure 3). Figure 3 also shows that for

one angle of incidence, called Brewster’s angle, none of the parallel polarization is reflected.

Figure3. Components of polarization, parallel and perpendicular to the plane of incidence

When light comes in at the Brewster’s angle the reflected wave has no electric field vec-

tors parallel to the refracted ray. This is because the electrons do not oscillate along the direction

of the propagation of the wave (as can be seen from figure 1, light is not produced in the direc-

tion of oscillation of electron, but every other angle, being maximum in the perpendicular direc-

tion). Therefore, the reflected wave also has no electric field vectors parallel to the reflected ray,

because that is the direction of propagation of the wave. The only direction possible is perpen-

dicular to the direction of propagation of the wave. Thus, when an already polarized light is inci-

dent on a surface of different refractive index than the medium of the ray of light, no reflected

ray is produced (Hecht 348-350).

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Natural light, which is randomly polarized as shown in figure 4, can be represented by

components of polarization parallel and perpendicular to the plane of incidence. If natural light is

incident on a dielectric surface, the Fresnel equations describe the reflection for each of the po-

larization components. Thus, natural light is always at least partially polarized upon reflection.

The objectives of this lab were to determine the Brewster’s angle for glass and plastic.

Figure4. Polarization of natural light

PROCEDURE

A piece of glass was setup such that at 90° on the protractor, the incident ray (from a red

He Laser source) hit the surface perpendicularly. The protractor was then rotated to angle values

less than 90°. This alignment of the incoming laser and the protractor ensured that the angle on

the protractor equaled the angle of the incident ray, thus gave the value of the incidence angle

(See figure 5). The reflected ray was directed to a fiber optic light intensity sensor which meas-

ured the intensity of the reflected light. The angle range was limited between 12° and 80° be-

cause of the expanse of the fiber optic light intensity sensor holder. The same setup and proce-

dure was repeated for plastic.

Figure5. Experimental apparatus

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RESULTS:
Table1. Data collected for each material at two angles of polarization
Angle (º) Glass Intensity (0º) Glass Intensity (90º) Glass Intensity (Var.) Plastic Intensity (0º) Plastic Intensity (90º)
78.5 2.2 8.2 2.3
77 2.2 8.1
76 2.2 8.2 2.2 2.2
75 1.2 2.2 8.1 2.2 2.1
74 2.2 2.2
73 1.1 2.1 7.9 2.2
72 1.2 2.2 7.9 2.2 2.2
71 1.2 2.1 7.9 2.2
70 2.2 7.9 2.0
69 2.2 7.9 1.8
68 1 2.1 7.9 2.3 1.8
66 2.2 7.3 2.7 2.0
65 1 2.0 6.8 3.0 2.0
64 2.0 6.4 3.0 1.6
63 2.0 6.4 3.2 1.4
62 1.2 1.9 6.2 3.6 1.2
61 1.8 6.0 3.6 1.2
60 1.4 1.4
59 1.6 5.8 3.6 1.4
58 3.4 1.6
57 1.4 5.2 3.4 1.4
56 1.3 1.3 5.2 3.5
55 1.3 4.9 3.3 1.3
54 1.5 1.25 4.2 3.3
53 1.2 3.8 3.3 1.1
52 1.6 3.6 3.9 0.8
51 3.4 4.2 0.8
50 1.7 3.2 4.8 0.8
49 5.2 0.7
48 2.1 2.6 5.4 0.6
47 2.2 6.1 0.6
46 0.6 1.8 0.5
45 2.4 0.5 1.8 7.0 0.4
44 0.4 1.5 0.3
43 2.6 0.4 1.2 7.4 0.2
41 0.3 0.8 7.8 0.2
40 2.8 0.2 0.6 7.8 0.2
39 0.2 0.5 7.7 0.1
38 0.1 0.3 7.6 0.05
37 2.8 0.05 0.2 0
36 0 0.1 0
35 2.8 0 0.1 8.4 0
34 0 0 0
33 3.0 0 0 9.0 0
32 0.05 0
31 0.05 0.2 9.8
30 3.2 0.1 0.3 9.8 0.05
28 0.2 0.6 10.9 0.2
27 4.4
26 0.3 1.2 12.7 0.6
25 4.7
24 1.2 1.9 14.3 1.0
23 5.0
22 2 4.4 16.4 1.8
21 5.6
20 6.6 3.1 7.4 17.2 3.3
18 7.3 4.8 9.1 19.5 5.2
16 8.6 10.3 21.3 6.6
15 9.8 13.2 23.5 8.47
14 9.8 14.9 26.2
13 9.8 16.6 11.0
12 19.8 14.0
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As can be seen from figure 6, there was no point of zero intensity or Brewster’s angle for

glass when light with 0° polarization is incident on it.

Figure6. Determination of Brewster’s angle for glass with 0° polarization

12

10
Intensity (Arbitrary Units)

0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Angle (Degrees)

It can also be clearly seen from the data for glass incident with p-polarized (90º) light in

table 1 and figure 7 that Brewster’s angle for this given piece of glass lies in the range of 33 - 36°

with a mean of 34.5°.

Figure7. Determination of Brewster’s angle for glass with 90° polarization

12
Intensity (Arbitrary Units) .

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
-2

Angle (Degrees)
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From the data for glass incident with random intensity p-polarized light in table 1 and

figure 8 that Brewster’s angle for this given piece of glass lies in the range of 32 - 34° with a

mean of 33°.

Figure8. Brewster’s angle for glass with 90° polarized light with variable intensity

12
.

10
Intensity (Arbitrary Units)

0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Angle (Degrees)

Similar to the glass case in figure 6, there was no point of zero intensity or Brewster’s

angle for plastic when light with 0° polarization is incident on it (see figure 9).

Figure9. Determination of Brewster’s angle for plastic with 0° polarization

25
Intensity (Arbitrary Units) .

20

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Angle (Degrees)
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It can be observed in figure 10 that Brewster’s angle for plastic lies in the range of 33 -

37° with a mean of 35°.

Figure10. Determination of Brewster’s angle for plastic with 90° polarization

18

16
Intensity (Arbitrary Units) .

14

12

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Angle (Degrees)

DISCUSSION

The following values for Brewster’s angle for glass and plastic were determined from the

results represented numerically and graphically above:

Table6. Brewster’s angle value for glass and plastic for various polarizations

MATERIAL BREWSTER’S ANGLE RANGE

Glass (0° polarization) N/A --
Glass (90° polarization) 55.5° ±1.5°
Glass (90° polarization, variable intensity) 57° ±1°
Plastic (0° polarization) N/A --
Plastic (90° polarization) 55° ±2°

Using Brewster’s Law and theoretical refractive indices of glass and plastic, the follow-
ing θB values were calculated: P.T.O
1 -1
Using refractive index of Crown Glass (common glass) = tan [1.52(n2)/1.00(n1)] = 56º
Using refractive index of Plastic1 = tan-1 [1.55 (n2) / 1.00 (n1)] = 57º

1
It is important to note, that there are a variety of glass and plastic refractive indices depending upon the exact
chemical composition, therefore, the materials used in the lab could have had a different refractive index since their
exact chemical composition was unknown (Wood).
Hanspal 10

Table7. Percent errors in the experimental results

MATERIAL EXP. VALUE TH. VALUE PERCENT ERROR

Glass 56º 56º 0%
Plastic 55º 57º 3.5%

Thus, the value for the Brewster’s angle for each substance could have been within a

range of various angles depending on the chemical composition of the material. For instance, the

range of glass’ refractive indices ranges from 1.474 for Pyrex glass to 2.04 for Arsenic tri-sulfide

glass, giving a range of Brewster’s angle between 55.8º to 63.8º. Similarly the range for plastic’s

refractive indices varies between 1.46 and 1.55. This gives a Brewster’s angle range from 55.6º

to 57º.

From the conclusions made above, no clear evidence of the material identity can be de-

termined from the value of the Brewster’s angle since there is no significant difference in the

values of the Brewster’s angles for glass and plastic and in some cases their values overlap, de-

pending upon their chemical compositions. However, an assured conclusion that can be made is

the fact that light intensity does not, in any significant way, affect the Brewster’s angle. This also

confirms the existence of Brewster’s angle, for both glass and plastic, which means that at a spe-

cific angle of incidence of p-polarized light there is indeed no reflection, which also proves po-

larization through reflection.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Hecht, Eugene. Optics. 4. San Francisco: Addison Wesley, 2002.

• Wood, Robin. "Refraction Index of Various Substances for 3D modelers." 18 March 2007. Robin

Wood. 22 Mar 2008

<http://robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/Gen3DTuts/Gen3DPages/RefractionIndexList.html>.