Question

Show the lateral displacement of the ray on the diagram.

Answer 1

Light Ray passing through to a glass slab undergoes Lateral displacement because the emerging ray remains parallel to the incident ray but is slightly displaced.

Let us consider that a light ray is incident on a glass slab from air.

• At the 1st air-glass interface the light ray undergoes refraction and gets deviated towards the normal.

• The refracted Ray passes through the glass medium and reaches the 2nd air- glass interface.

• The refracted Ray undergoes refraction and gets deviated away from the normal as it emerges out of the glass slab.

Net Result:

After two refractions , the incident ray and the emerging ray remains parallel to one another and slightly displaced.