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<p>When a light wave strikes the boundary between two transparent media, its behavior is governed by Maxwell’s equations. For incidence beyond the critical angle from a denser to a rarer medium, total internal reflection (TIR) occurs—no energy propagates across, yet a ghostly evanescent field seeps into the rarer medium, decaying exponentially with depth. This pedagogical article explores the physics of evanescent waves born at TIR and the striking phenomenon of frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR), where the evanescent field couples across a nearby interface, enabling <i>optical tunneling</i>. We present an intuitive derivation of reflectance and transmittance using multiple reflections in a dielectric slab, and highlight the deep analogy between FTIR and quantum barrier penetration. Finally, a few important applications of FTIR are also discussed. In this article, we propose a framework to teach Wave-particle duality drawing parallels between optics and mechanics which will introduce students to intricate phenomena like quantum tunneling, functioning of the scanning tunneling microscope etc.</p>

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A pedagogical relook at wave-particle duality through parallels in optics and mechanics

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月21日

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  • Pruthul Desai,
  • Vikas Jadhav,
  • P. C. Deshmukh

摘要

When a light wave strikes the boundary between two transparent media, its behavior is governed by Maxwell’s equations. For incidence beyond the critical angle from a denser to a rarer medium, total internal reflection (TIR) occurs—no energy propagates across, yet a ghostly evanescent field seeps into the rarer medium, decaying exponentially with depth. This pedagogical article explores the physics of evanescent waves born at TIR and the striking phenomenon of frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR), where the evanescent field couples across a nearby interface, enabling optical tunneling. We present an intuitive derivation of reflectance and transmittance using multiple reflections in a dielectric slab, and highlight the deep analogy between FTIR and quantum barrier penetration. Finally, a few important applications of FTIR are also discussed. In this article, we propose a framework to teach Wave-particle duality drawing parallels between optics and mechanics which will introduce students to intricate phenomena like quantum tunneling, functioning of the scanning tunneling microscope etc.