English

Beneath and beyond frustrated total reflection: a practical demonstration

Optics 2024-03-05 v1

Abstract

Frustrated total internal reflection is analyzed from an unusual point of view Unlike most similar works, incident angles are used here as the scanning variable, instead of the tunneled film thickness. The theoretical framework is presented defining our own normalized variables, better adapted to the problem at hand. A straightforward and captivating experiment, appropriate for undergraduate classroom demonstrations is also presented. The experiment involves measuring the reflection and transmission of light through a pair of prisms separated by an air or water layer, and the results are in fair agreement with theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2403.01938,
  title  = {Beneath and beyond frustrated total reflection: a practical demonstration},
  author = {Carolina Filgueira-Rama and Alejandro Doval and Yago Arosa and Raúl de la Fuente},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.01938},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

14 pages, 8 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T15:08:14.097Z