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The term is also used, even more specifically, to mean a "monochromatic" or sinusoidal plane wave: a travelling plane wave whose profile () is a sinusoidal function. That is, (,) = (() +) The parameter , which may be a scalar or a vector, is called the amplitude of the wave; the scalar coefficient is its "spatial frequency"; and the scalar is its "phase shift".
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.
A rotation with only one plane of rotation is a simple rotation. In a simple rotation there is a fixed plane, and rotation can be said to take place about this plane, so points as they rotate do not change their distance from this plane. The plane of rotation is orthogonal to this plane, and the rotation can be said to take place in this plane.
Consequently, the direction of oscillation of the electric field vector occurs in all possible planes perpendicular to the direction of the light beam. Unpolarized light is a type of light wave where the electric field vector oscillates in multiple planes. Light emitted by the sun, incandescent lamps, or candle flames is considered to be ...
Polarized light with its electric field along the plane of incidence is thus denoted p-polarized, while light whose electric field is normal to the plane of incidence is called s-polarized. P -polarization is commonly referred to as transverse-magnetic (TM), and has also been termed pi-polarized or π -polarized , or tangential plane polarized .
If the rotation angles are unequal (α ≠ β), R is sometimes termed a "double rotation". In that case of a double rotation, A and B are the only pair of invariant planes, and half-lines from the origin in A, B are displaced through α and β respectively, and half-lines from the origin not in A or B are displaced through angles strictly ...
Mathematically, the simplest kind of transverse wave is a plane linearly polarized sinusoidal one. "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 ...
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 field vector to a ...