Two reflected amplitudes and intensity sketch

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-2/section-b/b9/two-reflected-amplitudes-and-intensity-sketch

At the same output in air, use incident intensity . The two specified output amplitudes, including their common reflection sign, give the thin-film interference result
The output is a cosine with mean , period , and extrema
The unequal amplitudes prevent a dark minimum; their interference visibility is . This is the stipulated two-beam model: the supplied amplitudes already include propagation and transmission factors, and internal re-reflections are excluded by the stated assumption. They need not be recomputed from the later index value.

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