A report on Light and Polarization (waves)

A triangular prism dispersing a beam of white light. The longer wavelengths (red) and the shorter wavelengths (blue) are separated.

Circular polarization on rubber thread, converted to linear polarization

The electromagnetic spectrum, with the visible portion highlighted

A "vertically polarized" electromagnetic wave of wavelength λ has its electric field vector E (red) oscillating in the vertical direction. The magnetic field B (or H) is always at right angles to it (blue), and both are perpendicular to the direction of propagation (z).

Beam of sun light inside the cavity of Rocca ill'Abissu at Fondachelli-Fantina, Sicily

$Due to refraction, the straw dipped in water appears bent and the ruler scale compressed when viewed from a shallow angle.$

Hong Kong illuminated by colourful artificial lighting.

$Thomas Young's sketch of a double-slit experiment showing diffraction. Young's experiments supported the theory that light consists of waves.$

Animation showing four different polarization states and three orthogonal projections.

A circularly polarized wave as a sum of two linearly polarized components 90° out of phase

Color pattern of a plastic box showing stress-induced birefringence when placed in between two crossed polarizers.

Paths taken by vectors in the Poincaré sphere under birefringence. The propagation modes (rotation axes) are shown with red, blue, and yellow lines, the initial vectors by thick black lines, and the paths they take by colored ellipses (which represent circles in three dimensions).

$A stack of plates at Brewster's angle to a beam reflects off a fraction of the s-polarized light at each surface, leaving (after many such plates) a mainly p-polarized beam.$

Photomicrograph of a volcanic sand grain; upper picture is plane-polarized light, bottom picture is cross-polarized light, scale box at left-center is 0.25 millimeter.

Effect of a polarizer on reflection from mud flats. In the picture on the left, the horizontally oriented polarizer preferentially transmits those reflections; rotating the polarizer by 90° (right) as one would view using polarized sunglasses blocks almost all specularly reflected sunlight.

One can test whether sunglasses are polarized by looking through two pairs, with one perpendicular to the other. If both are polarized, all light will be blocked.

The effects of a polarizing filter (right image) on the sky in a photograph

Colored fringes in the Embassy Gardens Sky Pool when viewed through a polarizer, due to stress-induced birefringence in the skylight

Circular polarization through an airplane plastic window, 1989

The primary properties of light are intensity, propagation direction, frequency or wavelength spectrum and polarization.

- Light

Transverse waves that exhibit polarization include electromagnetic waves such as light and radio waves, gravitational waves, and transverse sound waves (shear waves) in solids.

- Polarization (waves)

7 related topics with Alpha

Electromagnetic radiation

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In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, propagating through space, carrying electromagnetic radiant energy.

Shows the relative wavelengths of the electromagnetic waves of three different colours of light (blue, green, and red) with a distance scale in micrometers along the x-axis.

In electromagnetic radiation (such as microwaves from an antenna, shown here) the term "radiation" applies only to the parts of the electromagnetic field that radiate into infinite space and decrease in intensity by an inverse-square law of power, so that the total radiation energy that crosses through an imaginary spherical surface is the same, no matter how far away from the antenna the spherical surface is drawn. Electromagnetic radiation thus includes the far field part of the electromagnetic field around a transmitter. A part of the "near-field" close to the transmitter, forms part of the changing electromagnetic field, but does not count as electromagnetic radiation.

Electromagnetic waves can be imagined as a self-propagating transverse oscillating wave of electric and magnetic fields. This 3D animation shows a plane linearly polarized wave propagating from left to right. The electric and magnetic fields in such a wave are in-phase with each other, reaching minima and maxima together.

Representation of the electric field vector of a wave of circularly polarized electromagnetic radiation.

Electromagnetic spectrum with visible light highlighted

Rough plot of Earth's atmospheric absorption and scattering (or opacity) of various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation

It includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, (visible) light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.

Electromagnetic waves can be polarized, reflected, refracted, diffracted or interfere with each other.

The Lorentz factor γ as a function of velocity. It starts at1 and approaches infinity as v approaches c.

Speed of light

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Universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics.

Event A precedes B in the red frame, is simultaneous with B in the green frame, and follows B in the blue frame.

The blue dot moves at the speed of the ripples, the phase velocity; the green dot moves with the speed of the envelope, the group velocity; and the red dot moves with the speed of the foremost part of the pulse, the front velocity.

A beam of light is depicted travelling between the Earth and the Moon in the time it takes a light pulse to move between them: 1.255 seconds at their mean orbital (surface-to-surface) distance. The relative sizes and separation of the Earth–Moon system are shown to scale.

Measurement of the speed of light using the eclipse of Io by Jupiter

Aberration of light: light from a distant source appears to be from a different location for a moving telescope due to the finite speed of light.

One of the last and most accurate time of flight measurements, Michelson, Pease and Pearson's 1930–35 experiment used a rotating mirror and a one-mile (1.6 km) long vacuum chamber which the light beam traversed 10 times. It achieved accuracy of ±11 km/s.

Electromagnetic standing waves in a cavity

An interferometric determination of length. Left: constructive interference; Right: destructive interference.

Rømer's observations of the occultations of Io from Earth

Hendrik Lorentz (right) with Albert Einstein

All forms of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, travel at the speed of light.

The refractive index of a material may depend on the light's frequency, intensity, polarization, or direction of propagation; in many cases, though, it can be treated as a material-dependent constant.

Laser

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A helium–neon laser demonstration. The glow running through the center of the tube is an electric discharge. This glowing plasma is the gain medium for the laser. The laser produces a tiny, intense spot on the screen to the right. The center of the spot appears white because the image is overexposed there.

Spectrum of a helium–neon laser. The actual bandwidth is much narrower than shown; the spectrum is limited by the measuring apparatus.

Lidar measurements of lunar topography made by Clementine mission.

Laserlink point to point optical wireless network

Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of the MESSENGER spacecraft

LASER notebook: First page of the notebook wherein Gordon Gould coined the acronym LASER, and described the elements required to construct one. Manuscript text: "Some rough calculations on the feasibility / of a LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated / Emission of Radiation. /
Conceive a tube terminated by optically flat / [Sketch of a tube] / partially reflecting parallel mirrors..."

Graph showing the history of maximum laser pulse intensity throughout the past 40 years.

Wavelengths of commercially available lasers. Laser types with distinct laser lines are shown above the wavelength bar, while below are shown lasers that can emit in a wavelength range. The color codifies the type of laser material (see the figure description for more details).

A 50 W FASOR, based on a Nd:YAG laser, used at the Starfire Optical Range

A 5.6 mm 'closed can' commercial laser diode, such as those used in a CD or DVD player

Close-up of a table-top dye laser based on Rhodamine 6G

The free-electron laser FELIX at the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen, Nieuwegein

Lasers range in size from microscopic diode lasers (top) with numerous applications, to football field sized neodymium glass lasers (bottom) used for inertial confinement fusion, nuclear weapons research and other high energy density physics experiments.

The US–Israeli Tactical High Energy weapon has been used to shoot down rockets and artillery shells.

Laser application in astronomical adaptive optics imaging

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation.

Temporal (or longitudinal) coherence implies a polarized wave at a single frequency, whose phase is correlated over a relatively great distance (the coherence length) along the beam.

$A ray of light being refracted in a plastic block$

Refractive index

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$A ray of light being refracted in a plastic block$

$Refraction of a light ray$

$Thomas Young coined the term index of refraction.$

$Diamonds have a very high refractive index of 2.417.$

$A split-ring resonator array arranged to produce a negative index of refraction for microwaves$

$In optical mineralogy, thin sections are used to study rocks. The method is based on the distinct refractive indices of different minerals.$

$Light of different colors has slightly different refractive indices in water and therefore shows up at different positions in the rainbow.$

$In a prism, dispersion causes different colors to refract at different angles, splitting white light into a rainbow of colors.$

$The variation of refractive index with wavelength for various glasses. The shaded zone indicates the range of visible light.$

The colors of a soap bubble are determined by the optical path length through the thin soap film in a phenomenon called thin-film interference.

$Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different refractive indices, with n2 > n1. Since the phase velocity is lower in the second medium (v2 < v1), the angle of refraction θ2 is less than the angle of incidence θ1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.$

Total internal reflection can be seen at the air-water boundary.

$The power of a magnifying glass is determined by the shape and refractive index of the lens.$

$The relation between the refractive index and the density of silicate and borosilicate glasses$

$A calcite crystal laid upon a paper with some letters showing double refraction$

Birefringent materials can give rise to colors when placed between crossed polarizers. This is the basis for photoelasticity.

$A gradient-index lens with a parabolic variation of refractive index (n) with radial distance (x). The lens focuses light in the same way as a conventional lens.$

$The principle of many refractometers$

$A handheld refractometer used to measure the sugar content of fruits$

A differential interference contrast microscopy image of yeast cells

In optics, the refractive index ( refraction index) of an optical medium is a dimensionless number that gives the indication of the light bending ability of that medium.

In some materials, the refractive index depends on the polarization and propagation direction of the light.

Faraday holding a piece of glass of the type he used to demonstrate the effect of magnetism on polarization of light, c. 1857.

Faraday effect

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Physical magneto-optical phenomenon.

The Faraday effect causes a polarization rotation which is proportional to the projection of the magnetic field along the direction of the light propagation.

Transverse wave

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Wave whose oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of the wave's advance.

Illustration of the electric (red) and magnetic (blue) fields along a ray in a simple light wave. For any plane perpendicular to the ray, each field has always the same value at all points of the plane.

Propagation of a transverse spherical wave in a 2d grid (empirical model)

Circular polarization mechanically generated on a rubber thread, converted to linear polarization by a mechanical polarizing filter.

Light is another example of a transverse wave, where the oscillations are the electric and magnetic fields, which point at right angles to the ideal light rays that describe the direction of propagation.

"Plane" here means that the direction of propagation is unchanging and the same over the whole medium; "linearly polarized" means that the direction of displacement too is unchanging and the same over the whole medium; and the magnitude of the displacement is a sinusoidal function only of time and of position along the direction of propagation.

Étienne-Louis Malus

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French officer, engineer, physicist, and mathematician.

His mathematical work was almost entirely concerned with the study of light.

His discovery of the polarization of light by reflection was published in 1809 and his theory of double refraction of light in crystals, in 1810.