Glass laser tube Laser beam Brewster window Figure P37.31
You are working in a laser laboratory, assisting with an experiment involving gas lasers. Your supervisor explains that the ends of the glass tube containing the lasing gas are sealed with Brewster windows. as shown such a window at one end of a glass laser tube. The laser light reflected
from the first surface is shown as the dashed line in the figure, and is completely polarized parallel to the plane of the surface (perpendicular to the page). The light that transmits into the Brewster window and then out the opposite side is partially polarized parallel to the page. (a) Your supervisor asks you to determine the angle θ that a Brewster window
made from ZnSe (n = 2.67) must make with the horizontal for these conditions to be satisfied. The index of refraction of the gas in the tube is 1.00. (b) After you report your angle to your supervisor, he says that he has seen a possible problem—what about the reflection at the second surface,
as the beam leaves the Brewster window? He is afraid that some of the desired polarization of the beam (parallel to the page) will be lost at that surface. Convince him that he does not need to worry about that issue.
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