All Questions
52
questions
3
votes
4
answers
328
views
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
4
votes
1
answer
296
views
What is this vector notation? For linear retardance calculation
Consider:
I found this formula in https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.426653 (NLM), a paper titled: Stokes polarization imaging applied for monitoring dynamic tissue optical clearing.
The formula is for ...
- 41
2
votes
0
answers
70
views
Why are circular polarized 3D glasses for cinemas so cheap and working for a range of wavelengths?
Does anyone know how the filters in circular polarized 3D glasses for cinemas work (meaning how the filter on a micro-scale works, which material they use...)? Because in the lab we use of course ...
- 1,803
1
vote
3
answers
208
views
What is the reason two rays originally polarized orthogonally but were rotated to parallel polarization does not visibly interfere even slightly?
The Fresnel–Arago laws by Augustin-Jean Fresnel and François Arago summarise some of the more important properties of interference between light of different states of polarization.
The laws are as ...
- 613
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why do I see a rainbow when I look at Insulfilm with my sunglasses?
I'm wearing glasses with a sunglass clip-on. This means I have my regular glasses and, on top of them, I have a second pair of lenses that work as sunglasses and attach to my regular glasses using ...
- 22.1k
0
votes
1
answer
109
views
What is the equation that gives $a$ and $b$ of the elliptical polarization formed by two interfering linearly polarized waves?
Two linearly polarized light waves have amplitudes $A1$ and $A2$, the same wavelength, a phase difference of $p$, and an angle difference of $\theta$.
When two linearly polarized light waves with ...
- 103
0
votes
3
answers
88
views
Where do the photons go in polarized filters?
If a pair of oppositely polarized (v/h) filters are put together, no light photons get through, so if all light photons incident on such a setup get reflected, the setup would
a) be a perfect mirror,
...
- 49
5
votes
1
answer
279
views
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
views
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
vote
0
answers
184
views
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
views
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?
1
vote
1
answer
299
views
What happens to other states of polarized light than $s$ or $p$ when encountering a filter/surface?
I'm trying to understand Brewster's angle and am stuck on what the different types of polarization actually mean (I'm a total beginner in physics so I might have misunderstood some very basic concepts)...
1
vote
1
answer
638
views
Distinguishing between different types of elliptical polarization
How to distinguish between a mixture of plane polarized and unpolarized light, and a mixture of
elliptically polarized and unpolarized light?
When we pass plane polarized wave though quarter wave ...
- 23
1
vote
2
answers
2k
views
Phase Shift of Light upon Reflection
In waves other than electromagnetic waves (e.g. waves on a string assuming small transverse displacement), when propagating across the boundary between two media, a fraction of a wave will be ...
- 107
3
votes
3
answers
849
views
Why does light reflected from a surface is s polarized? Why p polarized light is refracted?
I cannot understand the physics behind the reflection and polarization-reflection on an atomic scale. What exactly happens at the boundary of two surfaces?
I was studying Brewster's law and thus this ...
