When does monochromatic beam of light incident on a reflective surface get completely transmitted.according to the question what exactly the word transmitted means? I'm little bit confused .could you please explain me !!
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1$\begingroup$ Completely transmitted means that all of the energy in the light that hits the surface from the incoming side can be found on the other, outgoing side of the surface, i.e. none of the light gets reflected. $\endgroup$– CuriousOneCommented Feb 11, 2016 at 6:06
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$\begingroup$ Is your question in connection with anti-reflective coatings on lenses? $\endgroup$– FarcherCommented Feb 11, 2016 at 6:39
1 Answer
A beam of light, hitting a surface, generally is partly transmitted and partly reflected. If you want TOTAL transmission, that happens in two special cases: either the surface is the same refractive index as the surrounding medium (like a piece of glass disappearing in a tank of water) and there's no reflection because the refractive index matches, OR the incident light is not only monochromatic, but also linearly polarized, and is hitting the surface at Brewster's angle. That is a polarization and angle condition on plane-polarized light so that the reflection amplitude is zero, with the medium of lower refractive index than the reflecting surface. Birefringent and metallic surfaces needn't have Brewster's-angle behavior.
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$\begingroup$ You've left one condition out in writing about the Brewster's angle mediated scenario: the direction of the polarization. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 11, 2016 at 15:20