All Questions
56
questions
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35
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What happens when a linear polarized EM wave encounters a perpendicular mesh of wires (which are electrically connected)?
Assume a radio wave with wavelength 1 m is traveling in the negative z direction when it encounters a grid of closely spaced wires (say, 10 cm separation) laying in the xy plane, with each wire ...
- 93
3
votes
4
answers
328
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A question about circularly polarized light
At work, a senior colleague thinks that circularly polarized light does not exist. My problem is that we both work on a project involving polarized light. In some occasions, I would like to point out ...
- 33
1
vote
2
answers
183
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Definition(s) of polarization of waves
Is there more than one definition to "polarization" in the context of waves?
In some cases, I've seen the term "direction of polarization", which I presume it refers to the ...
- 185
1
vote
1
answer
205
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Meaning of complex-number representation of circular polarization
I am reading the Sakurai's book "Modern Quantum Mechanics". It starts from analogy between electron spin and classical light polarization. So far so good, but I have no idea how and why ...
- 362
1
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0
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10
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Do uniaxial lossy media rotate the polarization of the extraordinary wave?
I am having problems determining the direction of polarization (of the electric field) of the extraordinary wave in a uniaxial crystal when the media is lossy. I am especially interested in the ...
- 352
1
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0
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67
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How does Dipole coupling affect macroscopic polarizability and refractive index
I have taken some measurements of refractive index (refractometer (commercial Brix meter), nD20 i.e. 20 degrees C and 589 nm) and density of sucrose/water mixtures and also of ethanol/water mixtures.
...
- 313
-1
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1
answer
239
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How do you determine the handedness of the polarization vector of a beam of light?
The Wikipedia page on circular polarization says,
[For] polarization [as] defined from the point of view of the source...left- or right-handedness is determined by pointing one's left or right thumb ...
- 2,327
0
votes
1
answer
108
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Why is the polarization of light not a dimensionless quantity?
I've done plenty of Googling on the topic, but I'm still not completely getting it. The way my E&M professor's PowerPoint explained it, you find the polarization of a wave by imagining inserting ...
- 2,327
5
votes
1
answer
278
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What natural phenomena produce circularly polarized light?
There are a few websites that talk about how certain creatures can produce circularly polarized light in nature (i.e., certain beetles, fireflies, mantis shrimp, etc.), but I have found very few ...
2
votes
2
answers
2k
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What happens to circularly polarized light when it hits a linear polarizer?
I have seen a lot of examples of what happens when circularly polarized light passes through a circular polarizer composed of a quarter-wave plate and a linear polarizer, but what would happen to the ...
1
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0
answers
184
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Does fog produce right-handed or left-handed circularly polarized light?
I have read that when unpolarized light travels through the water droplets in fog, it becomes circularly polarized, but is this polarization right-handed, left-handed, or both? And what would ...
1
vote
2
answers
96
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Positivity and negativity of polarised light
Are there any positive vertically polarised light and negative vertically polarised light, or its just vertically polarised light which is there if the light is vertically polarised?
2
votes
1
answer
214
views
Rotation of the image formed by the extraordinary ray upon rotating the calcite crystal
Let a black spot is drawn on a piece of white paper. If we place a transparent calcite crystal on top of the paper, we observe two non-coincident images of the black spot. This is due to the ...
- 11.8k
0
votes
1
answer
25
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What are the speeds of light inside a retarder?
A retarder introduces a phase shift between the field components traveling along the fast axis and the slow axis. But at what speeds are they actually traveling? Is the speed of light along the fast ...
- 362
0
votes
2
answers
84
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This setup works for polarization. Does it work for wavelength?
In the school I was impressed with the following experiment: there are two polarization filters with orthogonal polarization directions placed at a distance from each other. They do not allow any ...
- 11.2k