UG Physics PH1101

Dr. Abhijit Bisoi

Department of Physics
IIEST Shibpur
Ph: 9830629051
 Syllabus
• Wave Optics:
• Idea of coherence and Interference.
• Diffraction-Fresnel and Fraunhofer class, Fraunhofer single
and double slit, N slit, plane transmission grating, missing
orders, resolving power,
• Polarization, Double refraction, ordinary and extra ordinary
rays, Polaroids, linearly, circularly and elliptically polarized
light. Double refraction.

Reference Books:
1. Ajoy Ghatak – Optics (6th ed.), McGraw Hill Education (2017)
 Interference
In general, whenever two waves superpose, one obtains an intensity
distribution which is known as the interference pattern.

If S1 and S2 are in same phase:

INTERFERENCE OF LIGHT WAVES

S1 and S2 are in same phase:

 THE INTERFERENCE PATTERN

For a point P on LL’

 For maximum amplitude: For minimum amplitude:
Path difference (∆) = S2P –S1P = nλ Path difference (∆) = S2P –S1P = (n+1/2) λ

Thus the dark and bright fringes are equally spaced, and the distance between two
consecutive bright fringes is given by

This is the expression for the fringe width

Maxima and minima with path difference
 Interference pattern The shape of the fringes is hyperbolic.

Fringe pattern produced by

two point sources S1 and S2 on
the screen correspond to D = 5
cm and λ = 5 × 10–5 cm.

5 5
d = 0.0005 cm d = 0.0025 cm

4 4

3 3
y (cm)

2 y (cm) 2

1 1

0 0
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
x (cm) x (cm)
Position of the dark fringes
 Interference pattern for white light
For n = 1, 2 and 3.

15 15
d = 0.0005 cm Interference pattern for white light 14 d = 0.0005 cm Interference pattern for white light
14
D = 5 cm For n = 1, 2 and 3. D = 30 cm For n = 1, 2 and 3.
13 13
12 12
11 11
10 10
9 9

y (cm)
y (cm)

8 8
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
x (cm) x (cm)
 THE INTENSITY DISTRIBUTION

The resultant field is given by

Where i represents the unit vector along the

direction of either of the electric fields.

The intensity I is proportional to the square of the

electric field and is given by
I = KE2
Average value of I:
Light frequency:ω = 1015 rad s-1
T = 2π /ω (~ 2π × 10–15 s)
Detector response time: 1 ns

=K[1/2E201 +1/2E202+E01E02 cosδ]

Where
 Intensity pattern

if the distances S1P and S2P are extremely large in

comparison to d, then
I1 ~ I2 ~ I0

Where
Waves emanating from two point sources S1 and S2 vibrating out of phase

How??

Where
 Waves emanating from two point sources S1 and S2 having phase difference π/3.

Displacement at P: For S1: y1 = a cosωt For S2: y2 = a cos(ωt- π/3)

Displacement at P : y = y1 +y2
= a cosωt + a cos(ωt- π/3)
=2a cos(ωt- π/6) cos π/6
= 1.73a cos(ωt- π/6)
Will get same result.

Maximum Displacement at P when S1 & S2 are in same phase: 2a (Intensity: 4a2 =4I0)
At the same time, we will get 1.73a Displacement (Intensity: 3a2) at P if S1 and S2
having a phase difference of π/3.
Amplitude at P will change if the phase difference between S1 & S2 will change.
Intensity Pattern??
 Waves emanating from two point sources S1 and S2 having no phase relation.

Time average 1/2

So, I = 2I0
No Interference pattern
So, we need two sources with a fixed phase difference between
them to see the interference.

Two sources which vibrate with a fixed phase difference between

them are said to be coherent.
Diffraction
 What is diffraction??
Consider a plane wave incident on a long narrow slit of width b. According to
geometrical optics, one expects region AB of screen SS’ to be illuminated and the
remaining portion (known as the geometrical shadow) to be absolutely dark.
However, if the observations are made carefully, then one finds that if the width of
the slit is not very large compared to the wavelength, then the light intensity in
region AB is not uniform and there is also some intensity inside the geometrical
shadow. This spreading out of a wave when it passes through a narrow opening is
usually referred to as diffraction, and the intensity distribution on the screen is
known as the diffraction pattern.
The diffraction phenomena are usually divided into two categories:
Fresnel diffraction and Fraunhofer diffraction.
In the Fresnel class of diffraction the source of light and the screen are, in general, at a
finite distance from the diffracting aperture.

In the Fraunhofer class of diffraction, the source and the screen are at infinite distances
from the aperture;
 SINGLE-SLIT DIFFRACTION PATTERN

Assume that the slit consists of a

large number of equally spaced
point sources and that each point on
the slit is a source of secondary
wavelets which interfere with the
wavelets emanating from other
points.
Let the point sources be at A1, A2,
A3, . . ., and let the distance
between two consecutive points be
∆. Thus, if the number of point
sources is n, then b = (n-1) ∆.
We will now calculate the resultant field produced by these n sources at point P.
Now, at point P, the amplitudes of the disturbances reaching from A1, A2, . . . will be very
nearly the same because point P is at a distance which is very large in comparison to b.
However, because of even slightly different path lengths to point P, the field produced by A1
will differ in phase from the field produced by A2.

For an incident plane wave, points A1, A2, . . . are in phase, and, therefore, the additional path
traversed by the disturbance emanating from point A2 will be A2A2’, where A2’ is the
foot of the perpendicular drawn from A1 on A2B2.
If the diffracted rays make an angle θ with the normal to the slit,
then the path difference is

The corresponding phase difference φ is given by

If the field at point P due to the disturbance emanating from point A1 is a cos ωt, then the
field due to the disturbance emanating from A2 is a cos (ωt –φ ).
Now the difference in the phases of the disturbance reaching from
points A2 and A3 will also be φ, and thus the resultant field at point P is given by

Now
(H.W.)

Thus where

Resultant amplitude
 where and

Thus
 Positions of Maxima and Minima

Minimum position:

When β = 0, sin β/ β = 1 and I = I0 , which

Zero intensity
corresponds to the maximum of the intensity.
Maximum position: To determine the positions of maxima, we differentiate I with
respect to β and set it equal to zero. Thus

The condition sin β = 0, or β = mπ (m ≠ 0), corresponds to minima. The conditions

for maxima are therefore the roots of the transcendental equation
The root β = 0 corresponds to the central
maximum. The other roots can be found by
determining the points of intersections of the
curves y = β and y = tan β. The
intersections occur at β = 1.43π, β = 2.46π,
etc., and are known as the first maximum,
the second maximum, etc.

Intensity distribution:

The intensity of the first, second and third

maximum are about 4.96% 1.68% and
0.83% of the central maximum,
respectively.
Intensity distribution
 Intensity distribution
b=0.088 cm
l=6.328*10-5 cm
b=0.0088 cm
D=20cm
400 b=0.00088 cm
b=0.000088 cm
Intensity

200

-40 -20 0 20 40

Distance (cm)
A parallel beam of light is incident normally on a narrow slit of width 0.2
mm. The Fraunhofer diffraction pattern is observed on a screen which is
placed at the focal plane of a convex lens whose focal length is 20 cm.
Calculate the distance between the first two minima and the first two
maxima on the screen. Assume that λ = 5 × 10–5 cm and that the lens is
placed very close to the slit.
UG Physics PH1101
Dr. Abhijit Bisoi
Department of Physics
IIEST Shibpur
Ph: 9830629051
 Syllabus
• Wave Optics:
• Idea of coherence and Interference.
• Diffraction-Fresnel and Fraunhofer class, Fraunhofer single
and double slit, N slit, plane transmission grating, missing
orders, resolving power,
• Polarization, Double refraction, ordinary and extra ordinary
rays, Polaroids, linearly, circularly and elliptically polarized
light. Double refraction.

Reference Books:
1. Ajoy Ghatak – Optics (6th ed.), McGraw Hill Education (2017)
 TWO-SLIT FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION PATTERN

In this section we will study the

Fraunhofer diffraction pattern
produced by two parallel slits
(each of width b) separated by a
distance d.
We will find that the resultant
intensity distribution is a product
of the single-slit diffraction
pattern and the interference
pattern produced by two point
sources separated by a distance d.

 To calculate the diffraction pattern, we use a method similar to that used for the case
of a single slit. We assume that the slits consist of a large number of equally spaced
point sources and that each point on the slit is a source of secondary wavelets.

 Let the point sources be at A1, A2, A3, . . . (in the first slit) and at B1, B2, B3, . . . (in
the second slit. As before, we assume that the distance between two consecutive points
in either of the slits is ∆. If the diffracted rays make an angle θ with the normal to the
plane of the slits, then the path difference between the disturbances reaching point P
from two consecutive points in a slit will be ∆ sin θ.
The field produced by the first slit at point P will, therefore, be given by
where

and

represents the phase difference between the

disturbances (reaching point P) from two
corresponding points on the Slits which are
separated by a distance d.
Hence the resultant field will be
E = E1 + E2
This represents the interference of
two waves, each of amplitude A
sinβ/ β and differing in phase by φ.
The above equation can be rewritten in the form
where I0 (sin2 β)/ β 2 represents the intensity distribution produced by one of the slits.

As can be seen, the intensity distribution is a product of two terms; the first term
(sin2β)/β2 represents the diffraction pattern produced by a single slit of width b, and
the second term cos2 γ represents the interference pattern produced by two point
sources separated by a distance d.

Indeed, if the slit widths are very small [so that there is almost no variation of the
(sin2β)/ β 2 term with θ], then one simply obtains Young’s interference pattern.

Where
 Positions of Maxima and Minima

The intensity distribution tells us that the intensity is zero wherever

The corresponding angles of diffraction are given by the following

equations:
The actual positions of the maxima will approximately occur at the above angles
provided the variation of the diffraction term is not too rapid.

Further, a maximum may not occur at all if θ corresponds to a diffraction minimum,

i.e., if b sin θ = λ, 2λ, 3λ, . . . . These are usually referred to as missing orders.

For example, we can see that for b = 0.0088 cm, d = 0.035cm and λ = 6.328 × 10-5 cm,
the interference maxima are extremely weak around θ ~0.410; this is so because at
 Single slit diffraction Interference

1.0 1.0

E
0.5 0.5

0.0 0.0
I/I0

-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
A A
1.0

Total
0.8 1.0

0.6

D 0.5
0.4

0.2

0.0
0.0

-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

q
A
 Single slit diffraction
Interference
Resultant
1.0
I/I0

0.5

0.0

missing order
-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

q in degree
 N-SLIT FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION PATTERN

We next consider the diffraction pattern

produced by N parallel slits, each of width b;
the distance between two consecutive slits is
assumed to be d.

As before, we assume that each slit consists of n

equally spaced point sources with spacing ∆.
Thus the field at an arbitrary point P will
essentially be a sum of N terms:

where the first term represents the amplitude produced by the first slit, the second
term by the second slit, etc. and the various symbols have the same meaning as we
discussed earlier.
 Single slit diffraction:

Double slit diffraction:

where I0 (sin2β)/ β2 represents the intensity distribution produced by a single slit.

As can be seen, the intensity distribution is a product of two terms; the first term (sin2β)/ β2
represents the diffraction pattern produced by a single slit, and the second term (sin2 Nγ )/sin2γ
represents the interference pattern produced by N equally spaced point sources.
For N = 1, it reduces to the single-slit diffraction pattern and for N = 2, to the double-slit
diffraction pattern [see Eq. (45)].
Positions of Maxima and Minima
Such maxima are known
as principal maxima.
Physically, at these maxima
the fields produced by each
of the slits are in phase, and
therefore, they add and the
resultant field is N times the
field produced by each of the
slits. Consequently, the
intensity has a large value
unless (sin2β)/ β2 itself is
very small.

Since | sin θ | ≤ 1, m
cannot be greater than d/λ.

Thus, there will only be a

finite number of principal
maxima.
From the intensity distribution, it can be easily seen that the intensity is zero
when either
the minima corresponding to the single-slit
diffraction pattern

The angles of diffraction corresponding to the equation Nγ = pπ are

Thus, between two principal maxima we have N – 1 minima. Between two such
consecutive minima the intensity has to have a maximum; these maxima are known
as secondary maxima.

When N is very large, the principal maxima will be much more intense in
comparison to the secondary maxima.
A particular principal maximum may be absent if it corresponds to the angle which also
determines the minimum of the single-slit diffraction pattern. This will happen when

are satisfied simultaneously, and it is usually referred to as a missing order.

 1.0
Single slit diffraction

0.8

0.6 16

Total
0.4 14

0.2 12
I/I0

0.0 10
-1.4 -1.2 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

18
Interference 8
16

14
6
12

10 4
E

6 2

4
0
2 -1.4 -1.2 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
0

q
-1.4 -1.2 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

The intensity distribution corresponding to b = 0.0044 cm, d = 0.0132 cm, and λ =

6.328 × 10–5 cm. The principal maxima occur at θ ~ 0.2750, 0.550, 0.820, 1.10, . . . .
Notice the (almost) absent third order.
The intensity distribution corresponding to the four–slit Fraunhofer diffraction
pattern as predicted by the intensity distribution corresponding to b = 0.0044 cm,
d = 0.0132 cm, and λ = 6.328 × 10–5 cm. The principal maxima occur at θ ~ 0.2750,
0.550, 0.820, 1.10, . . . . Notice the (almost) absent third order.
 Width of the Principal Maxima

We have shown above that in the diffraction pattern produced by N slits, the mth-
order principal maximum occurs at

If θm + ∆θm represent the angles of diffraction corresponding to the first minimum,

then
∆θm is the angular half-width

θm +∆θm

which shows that the principal maximum becomes sharper as N increases. θm

 THE DIFFRACTION GRATING
An arrangement which essentially consists of a large number of equidistant slits is
known as a diffraction grating. The corresponding diffraction pattern is known as
the grating spectrum.

High value of N Observed sharp / narrow

principal maxima
Application of the Grating Spectrum
we showed that the positions of the principal maxima are given by

This relation, which is also called the grating equation, can be used to study the dependence
of the angle of diffraction θ on the wavelength λ. The zeroth-order principal maximum occurs
at θ = 0 irrespective of the wavelength. Thus, if we are using a polychromatic source (e.g.,
white light), then the central maximum will be of the same colour as the source itself.
However, for m ≠ 0, the angles of diffraction are different for different wavelengths, and
therefore, various spectral components appear at different positions. Thus by measuring the
angles of diffraction for various colours one can (knowing the value of m) determine the
values of the wavelengths.
The intensity is maximum for the zeroth-order spectrum (where no dispersion occurs), and
it falls off as the value of m increases.
 Resolving Power of a Grating
In the case of a grating, the resolving power refers to the power of distinguishing two nearby
spectral lines and is defined by the
where ∆λ is the separation of two wavelengths which the
grating can just resolve; the smaller the value of ∆λ, the larger
the resolving power.

which implies that the resolving power
depends on the total number of lines in the.
Further, the resolving power is
proportional to the order of the spectrum.
Thus to resolve the D1 and D2 lines of
sodium (∆λ = 6 Å) in the first order, N
must be at least (5.89 × 10–5)/(6 × 10–8) ~
1,000.
The resolving power of the grating will increase
indefinitely if N is increased; however, for a given
width of the grating D (= Nd), as N is increased d
decreases and therefore the maximum value of m
also decreases. Thus if d becomes 2.5 λ, only
first- and second order spectra will be seen; and if
it is further reduced to about 1.5λ, then only the
first-order spectrum will be seen.
Consider a diffraction grating of width 5 cm with slits of width 0.0001 cm separated by a

distance of 0.0002 cm.

What is the corresponding grating element?

How many orders would be observable at λ = 5.5 × 10–5 cm?

Calculate the width of the principal maximum.

Would there be any missing orders?

What will be the resolving power in each order?

A grating (with 15,000 lines per inch) is illuminated by sodium light. The grating spectrum

is observed on the focal plane of a convex lens of focal length 10 cm.

Calculate the separation between the D1 and D2 lines of sodium.

(The wavelengths of the D1 and D2 lines are 5890 and 5896 Å, respectively.)
UG Physics PH1101
Dr. Abhijit Bisoi
Department of Physics
IIEST Shibpur
Ph: 9830629051
 Syllabus
• Wave Optics:
• Idea of coherence and Interference.
• Diffraction-Fresnel and Fraunhofer class, Fraunhofer single
and double slit, N slit, plane transmission grating, missing
orders, resolving power,
• Polarization, Double refraction, ordinary and extra ordinary
rays, Polaroids, linearly, circularly and elliptically polarized
light. Double refraction.

Reference Books:
1. Ajoy Ghatak – Optics (6th ed.), McGraw Hill Education (2017)
Polarization
 Each point of the medium executes a sinusoidal oscillation in a particular way .
Example: string vibration
What happened if the amplitudes of x
and y are different??
What about light wave??

We need some arrangement to

verify the polarization.

What happened to the

longitudinal wave??

Polarizer

Transverse nature of
the light wave.

Polarizer Analyzer
 PRODUCTION OF POLARIZED LIGHT
1. The Wire Grid Polarizer and the Polaroid
It consists of a large number of thin copper
wires placed parallel to one another. When
an unpolarized electromagnetic wave is
incident on it, then the component of the
electric vector along the length of the wire
is absorbed. This is so because the electric
field does work on the electrons inside the
thin wires, and the energy associated with
the electric field is lost in the Joule heating
of the wires. On the other hand, since the
wires are assumed to be very thin, the
component of the electric vector along the x However, for the system to be effective (i.e., for
axis passes through without much the Ey component to be almost completely
attenuation. Thus the emergent wave is attenuated) the spacing between the wires should
linearly polarized with the electric vector be ≤ λ.
along the x axis.
The fabrication of such a polarizer for a 3 cm microwave is relatively easy because the
spacing has to be ≤ 3 cm.
The light waves are associated with a very small wavelength (~5 × 10–5 cm), the fabrication
of a polarizer in which the wires are placed at distances ≤ 5 × 10–5 cm is extremely difficult.
Instead of long, thin wires, one may employ long chain polymer molecules that contain
atoms (such as iodine) which provide high conductivity along the length of the chain.
These long chain molecules are aligned so that they are almost parallel to one another.
Because of the high conductivity provided by the atoms, the electric field parallel to the
molecules gets absorbed. A sheet containing such long chain polymer molecules (which
are aligned parallel to one another) is known as a Polaroid.
When a light beam is incident on such a Polaroid, the molecules (aligned parallel to one
another) absorb the component of electric field which is parallel to the direction of alignment
because of the high conductivity provided by the atoms; the component perpendicular to it
passes through. Thus the aligned conducting molecules act similar to the wires in the wire
grid polarizer, and since the spacing between two adjacent long chain molecules is small
compared to the optical wavelength, the Polaroid is usually very effective in producing
linearly polarized light.
 2. Polarization by Reflection

Brewster’s law :If an unpolarized beam is incident at an angle

on a dielectric, then the reflection coefficient of the electric vector parallel to the plane
is zero and the reflected beam will be linearly polarized with its electric vector
perpendicular to the plane of incidence.

At this angle of incidence, the reflected and

the transmitted rays are at right angles to For the air-glass interface, n1 = 1 and n2 =
one another. 1.5, giving θp a 570.
The angle θp is known as the polarizing For the air-water interface, n1 = 1 and n2 =
angle or the Brewster angle. 1.33, giving θp a 530.
The transmitted beam is partially polarized, and if one uses a large number of reflecting
surfaces, one obtains an almost plane polarized transmitted beam.
 Polarization by Double Refraction

When an unpolarized beam enters an

anisotropic crystal, it splits up into
two beams, each being characterized
by a certain state of polarization. If,
by some method, we could eliminate
one of the beams, then we would
obtain a linearly polarized beam.

A simple method for eliminating one of the beams is through selective absorption; this
property of selective absorption is known as dichroism. A crystal such as tourmaline has
different coefficients of absorption for the two linearly polarized beams into which the
incident beam splits up. Consequently, one of the beams gets absorbed quickly, and the
other component passes through without much attenuation
Another method for eliminating one of the polarized beams is through total internal
reflection.
In Double Refraction, two beams have different velocities, and as such the corresponding
refractive indices will be different. If one can sandwich a layer of a material whose
refractive index lies between the two, then for one of the beams, the incidence will be at a
rarer medium and for the other it will be at a denser medium. Now, for the beam, for
which the sandwiched material is a rarer medium, the angle of incidence is greater than
the critical angle. Thus this particular beam will be eliminated by total internal reflection.
Polarization by Scattering
 MALUS’ LAW

If the amplitude of the incident electric

field is E0, then the amplitude of the
wave emerging from the Polaroid P2 will
be E0 cosθ, and thus the intensity of the
emerging beam will be given by
MALUS’ LAW

where I0 represents the intensity of the emergent beam when the pass axis of P2 is also along
the x axis (i.e., when θ = 0).
 SUPERPOSITION OF TWO DISTURBANCES
Case-1:

Let us consider the propagation of two linearly

polarized electromagnetic waves (both propagating
along the z axis) with their electric vectors oscillating
along the x axis.

The resultant of these two waves is

The resultant is also a linearly polarized wave with

its electric vector oscillating along the same axis.
Case-2:
Superposition of two linearly polarized electromagnetic waves (both propagating
along the z axis) but with their electric vectors oscillating along two mutually
perpendicular directions.

Let z =0, so

For θ = nπ, the above equations simplify to

where the upper and lower signs

correspond to n even and n odd,
respectively.
In the ExEy plane, this represents a straight line; the angle φ
that this line makes with the Ex axis depends on the ratio
a2/a1.
Thus, the superposition of two
linearly polarized electromagnetic
waves with their electric fields at
right angles to each other is again a
linearly polarized wave with its
electric vector, in general,
oscillating in a direction which is
different from the fields of either
of the two waves.
Case-3: For θ ≠ nπ (n = 0, 1, 2, . . .), the resultant electric vector does not, in general,
oscillate along a straight line.

We first consider the simple case corresponding to θ = π/2 with a1 = a2. Thus,

Ex2 + Ey2 = a12

If we plot the time variation of the resultant electric vector, we find that the tip of the
electric vector rotates on the circumference of a circle of radius a1 in the counter clockwise
Direction , and the propagation is in the +z direction which is coming out of the page.
Such a wave is known as a right circularly polarized wave (RCP wave).

Left circularly polarized wave (LCP wave).

Case-4: For θ ≠ mπ/2 (m = 0, 1, 2, . . .), the tip of the electric vector rotates on the
circumference of an ellipse.

Ex = a1 cosωt
Ey = a1 cos(ωt- θ)

If a1 ≠ a2 ??
 THE PHENOMENON OF DOUBLE REFRACTION
When an unpolarized light beam is incident normally on a calcite crystal, it would in general,
split up into two linearly polarized beams. The beam which travels undeviated is known as
the ordinary ray (usually abbreviated as the o-ray) and obeys Snell’s laws of refraction. On
the other hand, the second beam, which in general does not obey Snell’s laws, is known as the
extraordinary ray (usually abbreviated as the e-ray).
The appearance of two beams is due to the phenomenon of double refraction, and a crystal
such as calcite is usually referred to as a double refracting crystal.
 Velocity of the waves
The velocity of the ordinary ray is the same in all directions, but the velocity of the
extraordinary ray is different in different directions (due to anisotropic substance).
Along a particular direction (fixed in the crystal), the two velocities are equal; this direction is
known as the optic axis of the crystal.
In a crystal such as calcite, the two rays have the same speed only along one direction (which
is the optic axis); such crystals are known as uniaxial crystals. The velocities of the ordinary
and the extraordinary rays are given by the following equations-

where no and ne are constants of the crystal and θ is the angle that the ray makes with the
optic axis; we have assumed the optic axis to be parallel to the z axis. Thus, c/no and c/ne are
the velocities of the extraordinary ray when it propagates parallel and perpendicular to the
optic axis.
If we plot vre as a function of θ, we obtain an ellipsoid of revolution; on the other hand, since
vro is independent of θ, if we plot vro (as a function of θ), we obtain a sphere.
Along the optic axis, θ = 0 and

We next consider the value of vre perpendicular to the optic axis (i.e., for θ = π/2).

Case-1: If n0 > ne, Negative crystal

Thus the minor axis will be along the optic axis, and the ellipsoid of revolution will lie
outside the sphere
Case-2: If n0 < ne, Positive crystal

The major axis will now be along the optic axis, and the ellipsoid of revolution will lie
inside the sphere
Production of polarize light