POLARIZATION

TOPICS
POLARIZATION OF
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
POLARIZING SHEETS

POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
DOUBLE REFRACTION
CIRCULAR POLARIZATION

POLARIZATION BY SCATTERING
Text Book:
PHYSICS VOL 2 by Halliday, Resnick and Krane (5th Edition)
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POLARIZATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

By convention, we define the

direction of polarization of
the wave to be the direction
of the electric vector.
The plane determined by
electric vector and direction
of propagation of wave is
called plane of polarization
(xy plane in figure)

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Plane electromagnetic wave

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POLARIZATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

Example: Polarized Microwaves

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POLARIZATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

(a)Representation of a
linearly polarized wave
with the electric field
vibrating in the
vertical direction
viewed from along the
direction of
propagation.
(b)Representation of an unpolarized wave viewed along the direction of
propagation (perpendicular to the page). The transverse electric field
can vibrate in any direction in the plane of the page with equal
probability.
(c)An equivalent representation of the unpolarized wave, as two waves
linearly polarized at right angles to one another and with a random
phase
difference betweenBE-PHYSICS-POLARIZATION-2011-12
them.
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POLARIZING SHEETS
Polaroid Polarizing
material
The polarizing direction
is established during the
manufacturing process.
If E is the magnitude of electric vector,
only E cos (y component) passes
through the polaroid.
Transmitted intensity
I = Im cos2 [Law of Malus]
where Im maximum intensity (ie = 0
or 180 degree)
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POLARIZING SHEETS

Two polarizing sheets whose

transmission axes make an angle
with each other. Only a fraction of the
polarized light incident on the analyzer
is transmitted through it.

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POLARIZING SHEETS
Problem: SP44-1
Two polarizing sheets have their polarizing directions
parallel so that the intensity Im of the transmitted light is a
maximum. Through what angle must either sheet must be
turned if the intensity is to drop by one-half?

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POLARIZING SHEETS
Problem: E44-1
The magnetic field equations for an em wave in space are
Bx = B sin (ky + t), By = Bz = 0.
(a) What is the direction of propagation?
(b) Write the electric field equations.
(c) Is the wave polarized? If so, in what direction?

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POLARIZING SHEETS
Problem: E44-8
A beam of light is linearly polarized in the vertical direction.
The beam falls at normal incidence on a polarizing sheet
with its polarizing direction at 58.8 to the vertical. The
transmitted beam falls, also at normal incidence, on a
second polarizing sheet with its polarizing direction
horizontal. The intensity of the original beam is 43.3 W/m2.
Find the intensity of the beam transmitted by the second
sheet.

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POLARIZING SHEETS
Problem: E44-9
Suppose that in exercise 8 the incident beam was unpolarized.
What now is the intensity of the beam transmitted by the
second sheet?

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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
When light is incident on the
surface of a dielectric
material at polarizing angle of
incidence, (p= Brewsters
angle) the reflected light is
completely plane polarized
and the transmitted ray is
perpendicular to reflected
ray.

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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
n = tan p
This expression is called
Brewsters law, and the
polarizing angle p is
sometimes called Brewsters
angle.
Because n varies with
wavelength for a given
substance, Brewsters angle
is also a function of
wavelength.

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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
When angle of incidence is p, it
is observed that, p + r = 90
From Snells Law,
n1 sin p = n2 sin r
Therefore,
n1 sin p = n2 sin (90- p)
n1 sin p = n2 cos (p)
So n2/n1 = tan p
If 1st medium is air then,
n = tan p
[Brewsters Law]

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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
Polarization of light by stack
of glass plates

Unpolarized light is incident

at the angle p. All reflected
lights are polarized
perpendicular to the plane
of figure. After passing
through the several layers,
the transmitted wave no
longer contains any
appreciable component
polarized perpendicular to
the figure.
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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
Problem: SP44-2
We wish to use a plate of glass (n = 1.50) in air as
polarizer. Find the polarizing angle and angle of refraction.

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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
Problem: E44-12
When red light in vacuum is incident at the polarizing
angle on a certain glass slab, the angle of refraction is
31.8. What are (a) the index of refraction of the glass and
(b) the polarizing angle?

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DOUBLE REFRACTION
In optically isotropic substances (liquids, amorphous solid
such as glass, and crystalline solids having cubic symmetry)
the speed of light and the index of refraction are
independent of the direction of propagation in the medium
and of the state of polarization of light.
In anisotropic substances (eg. Calcite, quartz), the speed of
light and the index of refraction depend on the direction of
propagation in the medium.

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DOUBLE REFRACTION

Unpolarized light incident on

a birefringent material (eg.
calcite crystal) splits into an
ordinary (o) ray and an
extraordinary (e) ray. These
two rays are polarized in
mutually perpendicular
directions.
The o-wave travels in the crystal with the same speed vo in all
directions. The o-ray obeys Snells Law of refraction. The crystal
has a single index of refraction no for o-wave.
The e-wave travels in the crystal with a speed that varies with
direction from vo to ve. It does not obey the Snells Law. The
index of refraction of the crystal varies with direction from no to
ne MIT-MANIPAL
for the e-wave.
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DOUBLE REFRACTION
Principal indices of refraction (no, ne) of some doubly
refracting crystals for sodium light
Crystal

Formula

no

ne

ne no

Ice

H2O

1.309

1.313

+0.004

Quartz

SiO2

1.544

1.553

+0.009

Wurzite

ZnS

2.356

2.378

+0.022

Calcite

CaCO3

1.658

1.486

0.172

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DOUBLE REFRACTION
The characteristic
direction in the crystal in
which vo = ve is called
optic axis. The speeds are
most different in the
direction perpendicular to
optic axis.
A point source S inside a double-refracting crystal produces a
spherical wave front corresponding to the ordinary ray and an
elliptical wave front corresponding to the extraordinary ray.
The two waves propagate with the same velocity along the
optic axis.
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CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
Linearly polarized light falls on
doubly refracting slab cut with its
optic axis parallel to the surface.
The plane of polarization is makes
an angle of 45 with optic axis.
The incident wave is resolved into
two waves, one polarized xy plane
and one in xz plane.
These waves can represent perpendicular polarization states of
o-wave ad e-wave and they travel at different speeds through
the slab. After passing through the slab, there is a phase
difference between them that depend on the thickness of the
slab and on its two indices of refraction.
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CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
Choose the thickness of the slab so
that the phase difference of the owave and e-wave, at the bottom
surface of the slab, is 90. In this
case, the slab is called quarter wave
plate. Then one component has its
maximum magnitude where the
other component has zero
magnitude. The resultant E-vector
appears to rotate with time to an
observer at a fixed location on the xaxis. The tip of the resultant E-vector
traces out a circle about the x-axis.
Hence this wave is called circularly
polarized
wave.
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CIRCULAR POLARIZATION

OPTICAL ACTIVITY

When linearly polarized light passes through an optically active

material like quartz crystal or sugar solution, the plane of
polarization gets rotated about the direction of propagation
through an angle that depends on the properties of the material
and on the distance through the material that the light travels.
When a beam of light is passed through a crossed polarizer and
analyzer no light is transmitted. However if an optically active
material is placed between the crossed polarizer and analyzer,
some light is transmitted, and the analyzer has to be rotated by
an angle (=angle of rotation) to get extinction.
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CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
Problem: SP44-3
A quartz quarterwave plate is to be used with sodium light
(wavelength = 589 nm). What is the minimum thickness of
such a plate?

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CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
Problem: SP44-4
A linearly polarized light wave of amplitude E0 falls on a calcite
quarter-wave plate with its plane of polarization at 45 to the
optic axis of the plate, which is taken as the y-axis. (Fig. 44-18).
The emerging light will be circularly polarized. In what
direction will the electric vector appear to rotate? The
direction of propagation is out of the page.

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CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
Problem: E44-15
What would be the action of a half-wave plate (ie, a plate
twice as thick as a quarter-wave plate) on (a) linearly polarized
light (assume the plane of vibration to be 45 to the optic axis
of the plate), (b)circularly polarized light, (c) unpolarized light

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POLARIZATION BY SCATTERING

An unpolarized incident
wave is scattered by an
atom at O. The wave
scttered toward O on the zaxis is linearly polarized.

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QUESTIONS POLARIZATION
Sketch the schematic graph of a travelling
electromagnetic wave showing the electric and magnetic
vectors.
[1]
Explain the law of Malus with a diagram.

[2]

Explain with diagram, the polarization of reflected light,

incident at Brewsters angle.
[2]

Explain the method of producing plane-polarized light by

refraction in a stack of glass plates.
[2]

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QUESTIONS POLARIZATION
Explain the phenomenon of double refraction with a
diagram indicating the directions of polarizations for the
two beams.
[3]
Sketch schematically the wave surfaces produced by a
point source in calcite explaining the reason for this. [1]
Explain circular polarization of light and its production
with a diagram.
[4]
Explain optical activity with a diagram.

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[3]

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POLARIZATION - ANSWERS
E44-1: (a) y (b) Ex = 0, Ey = 0, Ez = c B sin (ky + t);
linearly polarized, z - direction
E44-8: 8.50 W/m2
E44-9: 15.8 W/m2
E44-12: (a) 1.61 (b) 58.2
E44-15: (a) Turns plane of polarization by 90
(b) Reverses handedness of circular polarization
(c) Light remains unpolarized.

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