Question

2. Bob Shaw has written science fiction stories about “slow glass”: a glass whose index of refraction is so big that it takes, say, a year for light to travel the thickness of a standard pane. He envisions you position the glass overlooking a picturesque scene for a year, then move the glass to your home. For a year you would then enjoy the scene at home. Consider slow glass such that it takes visible light a year to travel a distance of 1 cm through it.

(a) Determine the index of refraction of this glass.

(b) Suppose you took a square meter of this glass with 1 cm thickness and exposed its face “24/7” over a year to the full light of the sun. How much energy is stored in the glass? The sun radiates at 1300 W/m^2. Assume no reflection in this problem.

(c) Estimate the maximum electric field strength in the glass

(d) Determine the reflection coefficient

(e) Based on your answer in (d), explain why useful slow glass would be very hard to realize.

Answer 1