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In addition to the revision notes for Polarization of Light on this page, you can also access the following Optics learning resources for Polarization of Light
| Tutorial ID | Title | Tutorial | Video Tutorial | Revision Notes | Revision Questions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.6 | Polarization of Light |
In these revision notes for Polarization of Light, we cover the following key points:
Light waves corresponding to the object's colour comes to our eyes through reflection. Only the light colour representing the colour of objects is reflected to our eyes; the object absorbs the other colours of the (white) sunlight. This is how we see the objects around us.
An object appears black when it absorbs all the colours of the spectrum of
visible light falling upon it. A black object reflects no light. On the other hand, if an
object reflects all the incident light colours falling, it appears white, as white objects absorb none of the colours of the EM spectrum.
Polarization of light is the restriction of the electric vector oscillation in a single direction (or in simpler words, the restriction of the light wave in a single plane).
This means all the other directions of light oscillation are eliminated except one.
Polarizers are transparent objects that allow specific parts of light waves to pass through.
There are three types of light polarization: linear, circular and elliptic.
In linear polarization, the electric field is confined to a single plane. This means we obtain a 2-D wave from the original 3-D one.
In circular polarization, the incident waves still have a 900 oscillating direction between them. However, unlike in linear polarization, these incident waves have a phase shift of π/2 between them. As a result, they form a circular polarized wave pattern.
Elliptic polarization occurs in two conditions:
Among the infinity number of possible linear polarization states, two of them are the most important for reflection and transmission (refraction). The first is called the p-polarization and the later as the s-polarization.
The p-polarization occurs when polarized light has an electric field vector parallel to the plane of incidence. On the other hand, the s-polarization occurs when the electric field vector of the polarized light is perpendicular to the plane of incidence.
There are three types of polarizers available: reflective, dichroic and birefringent.
Reflective polarizers provide polarization of the desired light while reflecting (blocking) the rest. Wire grid polarizers are an example of reflective polarizers.
Dichroic polarizers absorb a specific polarization of light, transmitting the rest. Modern nanoparticle polarizers are examples of dichroic polarizers.
Birefringent polarizers operating principle is based on the refractive index of light. Given that different polarizations diffract at different angles, this property is used to choose specific polarizations of light.
Microscopy uses birefringent polarization, as it is very sensible to slight changes of light intensity caused by the elimination of a certain number of electric vectors depending on the situation.
To describe the relationship between polarized light I, unpolarised light I0 and the angle θ between the incident linear polarization and the polarization axis, we use the so-called Malus Law:
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