In his beautiful paper, Hasan Fakhruddin reported observations of mirror-like reflections in the rough surface of a ground glass plate. Similar effects have been recently employed for metrology of the roughness of optical diffusers used in modern light emitting device illumination systems. We report the observations of specular reflection in nontransparent rough surfaces at oblique angles, where roughness was treated as a variable. We present a simple trigonometry-based model explaining the observed phenomenon, which we experimentally validated using aluminum surfaces that have controlled roughness. The reported demonstration requires no special equipment, other than cellphone cameras, dielectric or metal plate, and sandpaper, and serves as an introduction to wave optics. This activity can be used to get further insight into everyday applications of wave optics for students already familiar with wave optics fundamentals.
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October 2016
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October 01 2016
Specular Reflection from Rough Surfaces Revisited
Amy S. Edelson;
Amy S. Edelson
2
Sunrise Optical LLC
, Sunrise, FL
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Abigail S. Walecki;
Abigail S. Walecki
2
Sunrise Optical LLC
, Sunrise, FL
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Eve S. Walecki;
Eve S. Walecki
2
Sunrise Optical LLC
, Sunrise, FL
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Peter S. Walecki
Peter S. Walecki
2
Sunrise Optical LLC
, Sunrise, FL
Search for other works by this author on:
Phys. Teach. 54, 394–396 (2016)
Citation
Kensei Yasuda, Alvin Kim, Hayley Cho, Timofej Timofejev, Wojciech J. Walecki, James Klep, Amy S. Edelson, Abigail S. Walecki, Eve S. Walecki, Peter S. Walecki; Specular Reflection from Rough Surfaces Revisited. Phys. Teach. 1 October 2016; 54 (7): 394–396. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4962772
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