On Brewster's bands. Part I

Abstract

The paper considers the explanation of Brewster's bands and other allied phenomena from the new and very suggestive standpoint proposed by Schuster (Phil. Mag. Oct. 1924). When monochromatic light is reflected by or transmitted through two parallel plates in succession, we have a superposition of the Haidinger ring-systems due to the two plates in the sense that the observed intensity in any given direction is the product of the intensities due to either plate separately. Illustrations showing the effect of such superposition in various cases are reproduced with the paper, differential and summational fringe-systems of various orders being observable. When non-homogeneous light is used, the Haidinger rings disappear and along with them also the superposition pattern, leaving only a uniform illumination in the field, except in the special case of the differential system of the first order for two plates of equal thickness. A simple geometrical explanation is thus forthcoming why Brewster's bands can be observed even in non-homogeneous light with thick plates in this case.