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Linear polarization. Diagram of the electric field of a light wave (blue), linear-polarized along a plane (purple line), and consisting of two orthogonal, in-phase components (red and green waves) In electrodynamics, linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic ...
When linearly polarized light is passed through such an object, it will exit still linearly polarized, but with the axis of polarization rotated. A combination of linear and circular birefringence will have as basis polarizations two orthogonal elliptical polarizations; however, the term "elliptical birefringence" is rarely used.
A polarizer or polariser is an optical filter that lets light waves of a specific polarization pass through while blocking light waves of other polarizations. [1][2][3][4] It can filter a beam of light of undefined or mixed polarization into a beam of well-defined polarization, known as polarized light.
For a linearly-polarized wave (also called a plane-polarized wave), the orientations of the field vectors are fixed (Fig. 2). Because innumerable materials are dielectrics or conductors while comparatively few are ferromagnets , the reflection or refraction of EM waves (including light ) is more often due to differences in the electric ...
Jones calculus. In optics, polarized light can be described using the Jones calculus, [1] invented by R. C. Jones in 1941. Polarized light is represented by a Jones vector, and linear optical elements are represented by Jones matrices. When light crosses an optical element the resulting polarization of the emerging light is found by taking the ...
Optical rotation, also known as polarization rotation or circular birefringence, is the rotation of the orientation of the plane of polarization about the optical axis of linearly polarized light as it travels through certain materials. Circular birefringence and circular dichroism are the manifestations of optical activity.
Photon polarization. Photon polarization is the quantum mechanical description of the classical polarized sinusoidal plane electromagnetic wave. An individual photon can be described as having right or left circular polarization, or a superposition of the two. Equivalently, a photon can be described as having horizontal or vertical linear ...
Linearly polarized light 5. Sample tube containing chiral molecules under study 6. Optical rotation due to molecules 7. Rotatable linear analyzer 8. Detector. A polarimeter [1] is a scientific instrument used to measure optical rotation: the angle of rotation caused by passing linearly polarized light through an optically active substance. [2]