Fundamentholfundamenthol
JEE Advanced2025Paper 1PHY-III
Q.

A solid glass sphere of refractive index and radius contains a spherical air cavity of radius , as shown in the figure. A very thin glass layer is present at the point O so that the air cavity (refractive index ) remains inside the glass sphere. An unpolarized, unidirectional and monochromatic light source emits a light ray from a point inside the glass sphere towards the periphery of the glass sphere. If the light is reflected from the point O and is fully polarized, then the angle of incidence at the inner surface of the glass sphere is . The value of is ____

Solution

The light is fully polarized upon reflection at O, meaning the angle of incidence at the cavity wall equals Brewster's angle for the glass-to-air interface:

. Taking the appropriate orientation, , so .

Apply Snell's law at the inner glass surface where the source-emitted ray refracts into the cavity geometry. From the geometry (the cavity has radius and sits tangent to the outer sphere of radius at O), the triangle formed by the centers of the two spheres and the point of incidence yields, via the sine rule:

and combining with giving , the geometry reduces to:

.

Practice more PHY-III

Concept-wise practice with instant solutions on Fundamenthol.

Start practicing →