29/3/2017 Deriving the laws of reflection and refraction of light from Fermat's principle

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Derivingthelawsofreflectionand
refractionoflightfromFermat's
principle
May22,2015

Fermatsprincipleofleasttimecanberoughlystatedas,Thepathtakenbetweentwo
pointsbyarayoflightisthepaththatcanbetraversedintheleasttime(From
Wikipedia).Fermatusedthisobservationtoderivethelawsofreflectionandrefractionof
light.

Reflectionoflight
Thelawofreflectionoflightstatesthattheangleatwhicharayisincidentonareflective
surfaceisequaltotheangleatwhichitisreflectedfromthesurface.Inotherwords,in
thefollowingdiagram(lighttravelsfromA toOtoB),i = r .

LetstrytoderivethislawfromFermatsprinciple.Thetotaldistancethattherayoflight
hastotravelfromA toBwithonereflectionatOis



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29/3/2017 Deriving the laws of reflection and refraction of light from Fermat's principle



L = AO + OB

2
2 2 2
= a + x + b + (l x)

Nowsincethespeedoflightisconstant,minimizingthetimetakenbylighttotakethe
dL
pathAOB isequivalenttominimizingthepathitself.Todothis,weset dx = 0 .

dL
= 0
dx

2

d 2 2 2
(a + x + b + (l x) ) = 0
dx

2(lx)(1)

2x
2 2
+ = 0
2 2
2a +x
2b +(lx)

(lx)

x
2 2
=
a +x 2 2
b +(lx)

sin i = sin r

i = r

Refraction
Thelawofrefractionoflight,orSnellsLawstatesthattheratioofthesinesoftheangles
ofincidenceandrefractionisequaltotheinverseratiooftheindicesofrefractionofthe
twomedia.

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29/3/2017 Deriving the laws of reflection and refraction of light from Fermat's principle

Withreferencetotheimageabove,SnellsLawcanbemathematicallystatedas,

sin i n2
=
sin r n1

NowtoprovethisusingFermatsprinciple.

Weknowthat,

speed of light in vacuum

index of refraction of a medium =
speed of light in the medium

c c
Letthespeedsoflightinourmediabev1 =
n1
andv2 =
n2
.Nowthetotaltimetaken
bylighttotravelfromA toBwitharefractionatOis



AO OB
t = +
v1 v2

AO n1 OB n2
= +
c c

2 2
2 2 n2 b +(dx)
n1 a +x
= +
c c

dt
Tominimizet ,wellset dx = 0

2 2
2 2 n2 b +(dx)
n1 a +x
d
( + ) = 0
dx c c

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( )
29/3/2017 Deriving the laws of reflection and refraction of light from Fermat's principle

2

1 d 2 2 2
(n1 a + x + n2 b + (d x) ) = 0
c dx

2xn1 2(dx)n2 (1)

2 2
+
2 2
= 0
2a +x
2b +(dx)

(dx)

x
n1 = n2
2 2 2 2
a +x
b +(dx)

n1 sin i = n2 sin r

sin i n2
sin r
=
n1

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