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See polarization and plane of polarization for more information. The orientation of a linearly polarized electromagnetic wave is defined by the direction of the electric field vector. [ 2 ] For example, if the electric field vector is vertical (alternately up and down as the wave travels) the radiation is said to be vertically polarized.
The first two diagrams below trace the electric field vector over a complete cycle for linear polarization at two different orientations; these are each considered a distinct state of polarization (SOP). The linear polarization at 45° can also be viewed as the addition of a horizontally linearly polarized wave (as in the leftmost figure) and a ...
The phenomenon of polarization arises when wave motion can occur simultaneously in two orthogonal directions. Transverse waves can be polarized, for instance. When polarization is used as a descriptor without qualification, it usually refers to the special, simple case of linear polarization. A transverse wave is linearly polarized if it ...
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.
In general the two rays will be in different polarization states, though not in linear polarization states except for certain propagation directions relative to the crystal axis. A Nicol prism. A Nicol prism was an early type of birefringent polarizer, that consists of a crystal of calcite which has been split and rejoined with Canada balsam.
Its input polarization must be linear. Resulting output polarization is rotating linear polarization. Likewise, circular polarization can be depolarized with a rotating quarterwave plate. Output polarization is again linear. If a halfwave and a quarterwave plate are concatenated and rotate at different speeds, any input polarization is depolarized.
The Stokes I, Q, U and V parameters. The Stokes parameters are a set of values that describe the polarization state of electromagnetic radiation.They were defined by George Gabriel Stokes in 1851, [1] [2] as a mathematically convenient alternative to the more common description of incoherent or partially polarized radiation in terms of its total intensity (I), (fractional) degree of ...
Linear polarizer 4. 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 ...