IV. On the intensity of light reflected from certain surfaces at nearly perpendicular incidence

Abstract

In the present communication I propose to give an account of a photometric arrangement presenting some novel features, and of some results found by means of it for the reflecting power of glass and silver surfaces. My attention was drawn to the subject by an able paper of Professor Rood,* who, in giving some results of a photometric method, comments upon the lack of attention bestowed by experimentalists upon the verification, or otherwise, of Fresnel’s formulæ for the reflection of light at the bounding surfaces of trans­parent media. It is true that polarimetric observations have been made of the ratio of the intensities with which the two polarised components are reflected; but even if we suppose (as is hardly the case) that these measurements are altogether confirmatory of Fresnel’s formulæ, the question remains open as to whether the actual intensity of each component is adequately represented. This doubt would be set at rest, were it shown that Young’s formulæ for perpendicular incidence (to which Fresnel’s reduce), viz., ( μ ‒ 1/ μ + 1) 2 , agrees with experiment. Professor Rood’s observations relate to the effect of a plate of glass when interposed in the course of the light. He measures, in fact, the transmission of light by the plate, and not directly the reflection. No one is in a better position than myself for appreciating the advan­tages of this course from the point of view of experiment. In the first place, the incidence can easily be made strictly perpendicular, in which case no question arises of a separate treatment of the two polarised components of ordinary light. And, what is much more important, the interposition of the plate leaves the course of the light unchanged, and thus allows the alteration of intensity to be determined in an accurate manner with the simplest arrangements.