Polarised and unpolarised light

In light and all other kinds of electromagnetic waves, the oscillating electric
and magnetic fields are always directed at right angles to each other and to
the direction of propagation of the wave. In other words the fields are
transverse, and light is described as a transverse wave. (By contrast
sound waves are said to be longitudinal, because the oscillations of the
particles are parallel to the direction of propagation.) Since both the
directions and the magnitudes of the electric and magnetic fields in a light
wave are related in a fixed manner, it is sufficient to talk about only one of
them, the usual choice being the electric field. Now although the electric
field at any point in space must be perpendicular to the wave velocity, it
can still have many different directions; it can point in any direction in the
plane perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel.

Any beam of light can be thought of as a huge collection of elementary

waves with a range of different frequencies. Each elementary wave has
its own unique orientation of its electric field; it is polarised. If the
polarisations of all the elementary waves in a complex beam can be made to
have the same orientation all the time then the light beam is also said to be
polarised. Since
there is then a unique plane containing all the electric field directions
as well as the direction of the light ray, this kind of polarisation is also
called plane polarisation. It is also known as linear polarisation.
However, the usual situation is that the directions of the electric
fields of the component wavelets are randomly distributed; in that case
the resultant wave is said to be randomly
polarised or unpolarised.
 (a) Polarised, and (b) unpolarised waves

(a) Transverse waves passing through a slit parallel to its oscillations, and
(b)
a slit perpendicular to the oscillations blocking the transmission of the waves
 Polarization by Double Refraction

When a beam of ordinary unpolarized light is made to pass through a crystal of

Calcite or Quartz, unlike glass, two refracted beams are obtained.
This phenomenon of splitting of incident unpolarized light into two
refracted beams is termed as Double Refraction. The crystals like Calcite,
Quartz, Mica, Sugar etc. which exhibit the phenomenon of double refraction
are termed as doubly refracting crystals.

A birefringent substance will split unpolarized light into two polarized rays with
different refractive indices and different velocities. A crystal of
calcite demonstrates this phenomenon.

Observing an object through the crystal, one sees a double image.

Analysis through a Polaroid sheet shows that these images have axes of
polarization at right angles to each other; rotating the Polaroid makes the
images alternately vanish. Things get really exciting when you place a
second crystal on top of the first. Now you have fours images, but if you
rotate it, it acts as an analyzer for the first crystal, and you can go down to two
images again.

One ray is called the Ordinary ray, for which Snell's law holds. The other
Extraordinary ray does not obey Snell's law.
In double refraction, the ordinary ray and the extraordinary ray are polarized
in planes vibrating at right angles to each other. Furthermore, the
refractive index (a number that determines the angle of bending specific for
each medium) of the ordinary ray is observed to be constant in all directions;
the refractive index of the extraordinary ray varies according to the direction
taken because it has components that are both parallel and perpendicular
to the crystal’s optic axis. Because the speed of light waves in a medium is
equal to their speed in a vacuum divided by the index of refraction
for that wavelength, an extraordinary ray can move either faster or slower
than an ordinary ray.
All transparent crystals except those of the cubic system, which are
normally optically isotropic, exhibit the phenomenon of double refraction: in
addition to calcite, some well-known examples are ice, mica, quartz, sugar,
and tourmaline. Other materials may become birefringent under special
circumstances. For example, solutions containing long-chain molecules exhibit
double refraction when they flow; this phenomenon is called streaming
birefringence. Plastic materials built up from long-chain polymer molecules
may also become doubly refractive when compressed or stretched; this
process is known as photoelasticity. Some isotropic materials (e.g., glass) may
even exhibit birefringence when placed in a magnetic or electric field or when
subjected to external stress.

Nicol Prism
A Nicol prism is an optical device used to produce and analyze plane polarized light. In the
former case it is termed as polarizer and in the later case it is called the analyzer.
We know that when a beam of ordinary unpolarised light is made to pass through a calcite crystal it
splits into two rays- the O- an the E-ray. The O-ray has vibrations perpendicular to the principal
section whereas the E-ray has vibrations parallel to the principal section. In 1828, William Nicol
made a very useful prism, called Nicol Prism or Nicol. This prism is made of calcite and has the
important property of eliminating one of the two polarized rays by using the phenomenon of Total
Internal Refraction.
 Basic Principle

The basic principle behind Nicol Prism is based on its unique behaviour on the event of incidence
of light rays on its surface.
When an ordinary ray of light is passed through a calcite crystal, it is broken up into two rays:
 An ‘Ordinary ray’ which is polarized and has its vibrations perpendicular to the
principle section of the crystal and
An extra-ordinary ray which is polarized and whose vibration is parallel to the principle section of
the prism.If by some optical means, one of the two rays eliminates, the ray emerging through the
crystal will be Plane polarized. In Nicol Prism, ordinary ray is eliminated and Extra-ordinary ray,
which is plane polarized, is transmitted through the prism.

Construction

A calcite crystal’s length is three times its breadth. Let ADFGBC be such a
crystal having ABCD as a principle section of the crystal with BAD = 700.

The end faces of the crystal are cut in such a way that they make angles
of 68 and 1120 in the principle section instead of 710 and 1090. The crystal
0
is then cut into two pieces from one blunt corner to the other along two
pieces from one blunt corner to the other along a plane perpendicular to
the extra ordinary rays.
1. Refractive index of Calcite for O ray,
2. Refractive index of Canada balsam,
3. Refractive index Calcite of E ray,
Thus we see that the Canada Balsam is optically denser than calcite for E
ray and rarer for O ray. Finally the crystal is enclosed in a tube blackened
inside.
When a ray SM of unpolarised light parallel to the face AD’ is incident on
the face AB’ of the prism, it splits up into two refracted rays, the ordinary
ray and the extra ordinary. Both of the O and E ray are plane polarized the
vibrations of O ray being perpendicular to the principal section of the crystal;
while that of E ray being in the principal section. The ordinary ray in going
from calcite to Canada Balsam travels from optically denser medium to a rarer
medium.

As the length of calcite crystal is large, the angle of incidence at Calcite –

Balsam surface for the ordinary ray is greater than the critical angle. Therefore
when O ray is incident on Calcite – Balsam surfaces it is totally reflected and is
finally absorbed by the side AD’ which is blackened. The extra ordinary ray
travels from an optically rare medium to a denser medium, therefore it is not
affected by the Calcite – Balsam surface and it is therefore transmitted through
the prism. This “E ray is plane polarized and had vibration, in the principal
section parallel to the shorter diagonal of the end face of the crystal. Thus by
Nicol prism we are able to get a single beam of place polarized light. Thus Nicol
prism can be used as a polarizer.

Retardation Plates: Quarter and Half Wave Plates.

A plate cut from a doubly refracting uni-axial crystal, with its optic axis parallel to refracting faces
can be used to introduce a given phase difference between the O- and E-waves which travel
normally through it. Such a plate is called the retardation plate. The expression for phase difference
introduced between the two components can be obtained as follows:
Let t be the thickness of the plate in the direction of propagation of the waves, o be the
principal
refractive index of crystal for O- ray and E be the principal refractive index for E-ray. Then
ot
and E t will be respectively, the equivalent paths traveled by O- and E- rays in air.
Therefore, the path difference is

Δ μ o t  μ E t  μ o μ E  t
Here, we have assumed the use of a negative crystal like Calcite in which . The
o E
corresponding phase difference between the two components is, therefore, given by
 2 t
o E

The two very important retardation plates are

Half Wave Plate:

It is a plate of a doubly refracting uni-axial crystal, with its optic axis parallel to refracting faces.
The thickness of the crystal is such that it introduces a phase difference of which corresponds to
a phase difference of between the O- and E-waves which travel normally through it.
2

If t is the thickness of the crystal then the path difference between the O- and the E- rays emerging
out of the crystal is

o E t
2

t 2
o E

For a positive crystal like Quartz the thickness of half-wave plate is given by

t 2
E o

When a plane polarized light is passed through a half-wave plate, the light transmitted by it is also
plane polarized. If the plane of vibrations of incident light makes angle with the optic axis then
the vibrations in the transmitted light will make an angle of with the optic axis. Therefore, the
plane of vibrations is rotated by 2 . Such a half-wave plate is used as half-shade device in
polarimeters to divide the field of view into two halves presented side by side.

Quarter-wave plate:

It is a plate of a doubly refracting uni-axial crystal, with its optic axis parallel to refracting faces.
The thickness of the crystal is such that it introduces a phase difference of which corresponds to
2
a phase difference of between the O- and E-waves which travel normally through it.
4

If t is the thickness of the crystal then the path difference between the O- and the E- rays emerging
out of the crystal is
 o E t
4

t 4
o E

For a positive crystal like Quartz the thickness of half-wave plate is given by

t 4
E o

When a plane polarized wave is passed through a quarter wave plate the
light transmitted by it is in general elliptically polarized with axes of ellipse
parallel and perpendicular to optic axis. The ratio of the axis is equal to tan ,
where
is the angle which the plane of incident vibrations makes with the optic axis.
Also if =450 so that tan tan =1 then the light transmitted by quarter-
wave plate will be circularly polarized. Thus a quarter wave plate can be
used to produce elliptically and circularly polarized light. In conjunction
with a Nicol prism, it can also be used for analyzing all types of polarized light.

PRODUCTION OF POLARISED LIGHT

When an elementary light wave interacts with matter, its electric field
causes electrons within the
substance to vibrate at the wave's frequency. These vibrating electrons then
re- radiate the absorbed
energy as new electromagnetic waves in all directions. Although this scattered
light has the same
frequency as the incident wave its polarisation depends on the new direction of
propagation.
In general, therefore, when light interacts with matter its polarisation may
be changed. The
main mechanisms by which this happens are :
1. by passing through dichroic materials;
2. by passing through birefringent materials;
3. by scattering;
4. by reflection;
5. by passing through optically active materials.

CIRCULAR POLARISATION
Plane polarisation is not the only way that a transverse wave can be
polarised. In circular
polarisation the electric field vector at a point in space rotates in the plane
perpendicular to the
direction of propagation, instead of oscillating in a fixed orientation, and the
magnitude of the electric
field vector remains constant.
Looking into the oncoming wave the electric field vector can rotate in one of
two ways. If it
rotates clockwise the wave is said to be right-circularly polarised and if it
rotates anticlockwise the
light is left-circularly polarised.

Actually circular polarisation is not anything new. A circularly polarised

elementary wave can
be described as the superposition of two plane polarised waves with the same
amplitude which are
out of phase by a quarter of a cycle (π/2) or three quarters of a cycle (3π/2).

The illustrations show the two linearly polarised electric fields with the same
amplitude plotted
at intervals of one eighth of a wave period. When these are combined
the resultant electric field
vector always has the same magnitude, but its direction rotates. Note that
the amplitude of the
circularly polarised wave is equal to the amplitude of each of its linearly
polarised components. Its
period and frequency are also identical with those of the component waves.

There is an interesting symmetry between the concepts of linear and circular

polarisation. Not
only can circular polarisation be described in terms of linear polarisation, but
linear polarisation can
be described as the superposition of two circular polarisations!
polarised waves with equal amplitudes are added to produce one
linearly polarised wave. Note that
in this case the amplitude of the linearly polarised wave is the sum of the
component amplitudes.

Elliptical polarisation
Circular polarisation can be regarded as a superposition of two
linear polarisations with the same
amplitude and just the right phase difference, π/2, 3π/2 etc. In general the
combination of two
linearly polarised elementary waves with the same frequency but having
unequal amplitudes and an
arbitrary value of the phase difference, produces a resultant wave whose
electric vector both rotates
and changes its magnitude. The tip of the electric field vector traces out an
ellipse so the result is
called elliptical polarisation . Circular polarisation is thus a special case of
elliptical polarisation.

We have already seen that the resultant of two linear polarisations with
zero phase difference
is also a linear polarisation. Another special case is the combination of two
elementary linearly
polarised waves whose phase difference is exactly π. The resultant is a linear
polarisation but its
orientation is perpendicular to the linear polarisation when the component
waves have no phase
difference.

Optical Rotation
When plane polarized light is passed through crystals like Quartz, then the plane of polarization of
the emergent light is not same as that of the incident light. These crystals rotate the plane of
polarization of the incident light about the direction of propagation of light. This phenomenon is
called optical activity and the substances exhibiting this phenomenon are called optically active
substances. Optically active substances can be Dextrorotatory or Laevorotatory.

Dextrorotatory
These substances rotate the plane of vibration of the incident light towards right i.e. in clockwise
direction.

Laevorotatory
These substances rotate the plane of vibration of the incident light towards left
i.e. in anticlockwise direction

Specific Rotation or specific rotatory power

In order to compare the optical rotation of optically active substances, a quantity called specific
rotation is defined. It is defined as follows:
Specific rotation of a substance at a given temperature T and for a given wavelength of light is
defined as “The angle of rotation (in degrees) produced by a path of length one decimeter of the
substance when its concentration is 1gm cm-3”.
i.e. S T lxc

Where is the angle of rotation produced by the optically active substance.

l is the length of the optically active substance in decimeters
and c is the concentration in gm cm-3.
Polarimeters
These are instruments used to measure the angle of rotation of plane polarized light passed through
the optically active substance. It can be used to determine the specific rotation of a solution and if
the specific rotation is known, it can be used to determine the concentration of the solution also.
When polarimeters are directly calibrated to read the percentage of cane sugar in a solution it is
known as Saccharimeter.
It consists of two Nicol prisms capable of rotation about the incident beam of monochromatic light
as the axis. The Nicol prisms are adjusted in crossed position so that the field of view becomes
completely dark. Then a tube containing the solution is introduced between the two Nicol prisms.
To restore the position of extinction i.e. the position of analyzing Nicol prisms for which no light is
transmitted, the analyzing Nicol is rotated through certain angle. By measuring the angle of
rotation, the path length of the solution and the density of the solution the value of specific rotation
can be calculated.

Laurent’s Half Shade

Device
It consists of two semi-circular plates, one of glass and the other of Quartz. The Quartz plate is cut
along its optic axis (YY’) and is cemented to the glass plate to form a circular plane as shown in
Fig.
.The Quartz plate is a half-wave plate for sodium light and its thickness is such that it introduces a
 path difference of between O- and E- waves in Sodium light. On passing through this plate, O-
2
wave gains a path length of or the phase of over the E-wave. The thickness of the glass plate
2
is so chosen that it transmits same amount of light as Quartz plate does.
Let the incident plane polarized light has plane of vibrations along PP1 which makes angle with
the optic axis YY’. The vibrations emerge from the glass plate along the same axis, without any
change. However inside the Quartz plate, the Quartz being doubly refracting the incident light splits
into O- and E- rays. The O- component is along XX’ (as the O- ray has vibrations perpendicular to
the optic axis.) and the E- ray is along YY’ (as the E- ray has vibrations parallel to the optic axis).
The O- component moves faster than the E- component and gains a phase difference of . Due to
this the direction of O- component is reversed i.e. if the initial position of O- component is
represented by OC then the final position will be represented by OD. Thus on emergence the
resultant of O- and the E- component will be along OQ making angle - with YY’. Thus
the Quartz half rotates the plane of incident light in the Quartz half by an angle 2 where is
the angle which the incident plane makes with the optic axis.

Thus the vibrations emerging out of glass half have vibrations along PP1 and the
vibrations emerging out of the Quartz half have vibrations along OQ.
If the plane of analyzing Nicol is along OQ then the light is passed unobstructed through the
Quartz half and is obstructed by the glass half. The Quartz half appears bright and the Glass
half is dark. Fig. a.
If the plane of analyzing Nicol is along PP1 then the light is passed unobstructed through
the glass half and is obstructed by the Quartz half. The Glass half appears bright and the
Quartz half is dark Fig. b.
If the plane of analyzing Nicol is along YY’ then the equal amount of light is passed
through the glass and the Quartz half and the two halves are equally bright. Fig.c.

Bi-Quartz Device
A Bi-Quartz device consists of two semi-circular Quartz plates cemented together to form
a circular plate. One of the Quartz is left handed and the other Quartz half is right handed. The two
plates are cut with their optic axis perpendicular to the refracting faces and are cemented along PQ.
The thickness of the two halves are taken in such a manner that both the Quartz rotate the Yellow
color by 900.
When the plane polarized white light is incident on the device normally the left half rotates the
vibrations to the left whereas the right half rotates the plane of vibrations to the right. The vibrations
of different colors are rotated by different angles on passing through the bi-quartz device causing
rotatory dispersion. Hence if the principal plane of the polarizer is parallel to PQ, the red and violet
regions will be rotated in the two halves by angles and respectively where > .
If the principal plane of the analyzer is parallel to PQ, the tallow light will be completely
quenched(as its plane is in crossed position to the plane of analyzer). The two halves would
transmit the red and blue lights. The two halves would thus appear to be equally grey-violet.
This position is called the sensitive tint or tint of passage.
If the analyzer is rotated to the left side, the longer wavelengths(on the red side) will be
transmitted more than the shorter ones(as the plane of analyzer is more aligned to the plane
of longer wavelengths). On the right side it would be the shorter wavelengths(on the violet
side) which would be transmitted more(as the plane of analyzer is more aligned to the plane
of shorter wavelengths). Thus in this position of the analyzer (Fig.b) the left half appears to
be pink and the right half appears to be blue.
If the analyzer is rotated to the right side (Fig. c), the longer wavelengths(on the red side)
will be transmitted more than the shorter ones(as the plane of analyzer is more aligned to the
plane of longer wavelengths). On the left side it would be the shorter wavelengths(on the
violet side) which would be transmitted more(as the plane of analyzer is more aligned to the
plane of shorter wavelengths). Thus in this position of the analyzer (Fig.c) the right half
appears to be pink and the left half appears to be blue.
Thus a slight change in the position of analyzer from the tint of passage position brings a
marked change in the colors of the two halves.

Merits and demerits of two devices

The bi-quartz device is more sensitive than the half shade device but suffers from following
disadvantages.
1. As the color sensitivity varies from person to person, the results obtained by different
persons with the bi-quartz device are different.
2. It can not be used by color blind persons.
It is to be remembered that the half-shade device works only with a monochromatic source
whereas the bi-quartz device can work both with the monochromatic as well as white light
source.