Fundamentholfundamenthol

JEE Advanced 2024 Paper 2, Physics Section 3 Q4: Prism

JEE Advanced2024Paper 2Physics Section 3
Q.

Two equilateral-triangular prisms and are kept with their sides parallel to each other, in vacuum, as shown in the figure. A light ray enters prism at an angle of incidence such that the outgoing ray undergoes minimum deviation in prism . If the respective refractive indices of and are and , , where the value of is ______.

Solution

Use optical reversibility. In prism at minimum deviation, the ray inside is parallel to the base, so .

Applying Snell's law at the entry face of :

This ray, before entering , travelled through air after exiting at on the exit face of . Working back through , Snell's law at the exit face gives

Since , we get

Finally, Snell's law at the entrance face of :

Writing as radians,

Concept behind this question

PrismNotes, formulas and examples →

More previous year questions on Prism

Practice more Physics Section 3

Concept-wise practice with instant solutions on Fundamenthol.

Start practicing →