Model of Fresnel Refraction by Richard P. Baker, Baker #375

Richard P. Baker, a mathematician at the University of Iowa, made a series of models relating to the relative intensity of polarized light transmitted by an isotropic medium. In all of them, the ratio of the magnitude of two electromagnetic vectors is plotted extending vertically, as a function of the index of refraction of the medium and the angle of incidence of the light. In Baker’s scheme, the vectors D_s, E_s, and R_s lie in the surface between the two media, while the vectors D_p, E_p, and R_p lie in the plane of polarization. This particular model plots values of the ratio of intensities R_p / E_p, a function equal to – sin (θ - φ) / sin (θ + φ). Here θ is the angle of incidence of the light and φ is the angle of refraction.

The model has a wooden base and sides, with a plaster top. A typed paper tag attached to the base reads: No. 375 (/) 10 Freshnel [sic] surfaces.

Baker associated this model with work of Fresnel.

References:

Accession File.

R. P. Baker, Mathematical Models, Iowa City, Iowa, 1931, p. 18.

Paul Drude, with C. Riborg Mann and Robert A. Millikan, translators, Theory of Optics, New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1902, esp. pp. 279-280.

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