Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/paper-1/section-a/2/solution

For prism sweep under different rotation conventions, let the apex angle be . Snell's law at both faces gives
Here is measured from the second face's outward normal, whereas is the deviation from the incident direction. The two settings give
For a fixed laser and rotating prism, the outgoing beam therefore sweeps
If instead the prism stays fixed and the input beam is steered, its exit-face normal stays fixed and the answer is . The source does not explicitly say which component moves, so the laboratory-angle convention matters. Both settings transmit through the second face; total internal reflection does not occur.

New to topics? Read the docs here!