08-11-2022

Polarisation
TOPICS Polarization (also polarisation) is a property of certain types
 POLARIZATION OF of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations.

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES Electromagnetic waves, such as light, exhibit polarization;

 POLARIZING SHEETS
Acoustic waves (sound waves) in a medium such as a gas or
 POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION liquid do not have polarization because the direction of
 DOUBLE REFRACTION vibration and direction of propagation are the same.

 CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
 Specific Rotation

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POLARIZATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES POLARIZATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

(a)Representation of a
• By convention, we define the linearly polarized wave
direction of polarization of with the electric field
the EM wave to be the vibrating in the
vertical direction
direction of the electric vector
viewed along the
(E). direction of
propagation.
• The plane determined by
electric vector and direction (b)Representation of an unpolarized wave viewed along the direction of
of propagation of wave is
Plane electromagnetic wave propagation (perpendicular to the page). The transverse electric field
can vibrate in any direction in the plane of the page with equal
called plane of polarization
probability.
(xy plane in figure)
(c)An equivalent representation of the unpolarized wave, as two waves
linearly polarized at right angles to one another and with a random
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phase difference between them. Orientation of y and z axis: arbitary.
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Polarizer- a device/sheet that allows only light with an electric

field along a singe direction to pass through

Polarized Light – light waves that vibrate in a single plane

Unpolarized light – light waves that vibrate in many

different planes

Polaroid  Polarizing
material
The polarizing direction
is established during the
manufacturing process
of the sheet.

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Two polarizing sheets Law of Malus

whose transmission
axes make an angle 
with each other. Only a
fraction of the polarized
light incident on the
analyzer is transmitted
through it.
The law states that the intensity (I) of the polarised light
emerging from the analyser, is directly proportional to
the square of the cosine of the angle ()
between the polariser and the analyser
 Malus law is valid for POLARISED light

If E is the magnitude of electric  In UNPOLARISD light: The transverse electric field can vibrate in
vector, only E cos  (y component) any direction in the plane perpendicular to the direction of the
passes through the analyser. polarisation with equal probability.
Transmitted intensity
I = Im cos2  [Law of  For Unpolarised light : I = Im <cos2 > = Im /2
Malus]
where Im = Imax  maximum  An ideal polariser is one that transmits 50% of the
intensity (ie  = 0 or 180 degree) incident unpolarised light as plane-polarized one.

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POLARIZING SHEETS POLARIZING SHEETS

Problem: SP44-1 Problem: E44-8

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?
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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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION Brewster’s Law POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION

When an unpolarized light beam is reflected from a surface, the
polarization of the reflected light depends on the angle of incidence. (a) When unpolarized light is incident
on a reflecting surface, the reflected
and refracted beams are partially
The reflected beam is completely polarized.
polarized when the angle of
incidence equals the polarizing (b) The reflected beam is completely
angle p, which satisfies the polarized when the angle of incidence
equation n2/n1 = tan p. equals the polarizing angle p, which
satisfies the equation n2/n1 = tan p.
At this incident angle p,
the reflected and refracted rays are At this incident angle p,
perpendicular to each other the reflected and refracted rays are
perpendicular to each other.
p = polarizing angle

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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
Brewster’s Law
When angle of incidence is p, it
is observed that, p + r = 90 n2/n1 = tan p
From Snell’s Law,
n1 sin p = n2 sin r
Therefore,
n1 sin p = n2 sin (90- p)
This expression is called Brewster’s law, and the
n1 sin p = n2 cos (p)
polarizing angle p is called Brewster’s angle.
So n2/n1 = tan p
Because wavelength varies with n for a given
If 1st medium is air then,
substance (n =  / n ), Brewster’s angle is also a
n = tan p
function of wavelength.
 1/  2 = tan p
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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION

Problem: E44-12 Polarization of light by stack

of glass plates
When red light in vacuum is incident at the polarizing Unpolarized light is incident
angle on a certain glass slab, the angle of refraction is at the angle p. All reflected
31.8. What are (a) the index of refraction of the glass and lights are polarized
(b) the polarizing angle? perpendicular to the plane of
figure. After passing through
the several layers, the
transmitted wave no longer
contains any appreciable
component polarized
perpendicular (normal) to
the figure (page).
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POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
Isotropic material (= cubic)
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.

n is constant is every direction -

Sphere isotropic minerals do not change
the vibration direction of the
light - no polarisation

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POLARIZATION BY DOUBLE REFRACTION

In optically isotropic substances
(liquids,
amorphous solid such as glass,
crystalline solids having cubic symmetry)
the speed of light and the index of refraction are
independent of
the direction of propagation in the medium
the state of polarization of light.
In anisotropic crystalline materials
(such as calcite and quartz)
the speed of light is not the same in all directions.
In anisotropic crystalline materials,
the speed of light and the index of refraction depends on:
the direction of propagation & the plane of polarization of the light.
Such materials are characterized by two indices of refraction.

Hence, they are referred to as double-refracting or birefringent

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If light enters a birefringent material (such as Calcite) at an angle to

What is Bi-refringent material? Explain the phenomenon of
double refraction with diagram indicating the directions
of polarizations for two beams.
the optic axis, the different indices of refraction will cause the two
polarized rays to split and travel in different directions :
a phenomenon called double refraction.
Unpolarized light incident on a birefringent material splits into an
ordinary (o) ray & extraordinary (e) ray.
These two rays [ o & e] are polarized in mutually perpendicular directions.
This phenomenon is a result of
different propagation velocities, v||
and v , associated with each electric
field component.
the propagation velocities can be
expressed as follows:
v|| = ve = c/ne ne = 1.486
v┴ = vo =c/no no = 1.658

For Calcite no > ne

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DOUBLE REFRACTION:
Optic Axis
The o-ray polarized perpendicular to optic axis (v┴ )
The characteristic direction in
 The o-wave travels in the crystal with the same speed vo in the crystal in which vo = ve is
all directions.
called optic axis. !!!!!!
 The o-ray obeys Snell’s Law of refraction.
 The crystal has a single index of refraction no for o-wave. v|| = ve = c/ne ne = 1.486
v┴ = vo =c/no no = 1.658
The e-ray polarized parallel to (along the) optic axis (v|| ).
 The e-wave travels in the crystal with a speed that varies
with direction from vo to ve. A point source S inside a double-refracting crystal produces a
 It does not obey the Snell’s Law. spherical wave front corresponding to the ordinary ray and an
elliptical wave front corresponding to the extraordinary ray.
 The index of refraction of the crystal varies with direction
The two waves propagate with the same velocity along the
from no to ne for the e-wave.
optic axis. 24

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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 +0.002
A calcite crystal produces a double image because it is a
birefringent (double-refracting) material. These two images Calcite CaCO3 1.658 1.486 -0.172
correspond to one formed by the ordinary ray and one formed by
the extraordinary ray.
For Calcite no > ne
Birefringence = Δn = ne − no

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If the two images are viewed through a sheet of rotating polarizing

glass, they alternately appear and disappear because the ordinary
(o) and extraordinary (e) rays are plane-polarized along mutually
perpendicular directions.
For Calcite no > ne

The shape of the ellipsoids depends on sign of n (+ or -) as shown.

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QUESTIONS – POLARIZATION
Sketch the schematic graph of a travelling electromagnetic
wave showing the electric and magnetic vectors.
Explain the law of Malus with a diagram.
Explain with diagram, the polarization of reflected light,
incident at Brewster’s angle.
Explain the method of producing plane-polarized light by
refraction in a stack of glass plates.
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QUESTIONS – POLARIZATION
Explain the phenomenon of double refraction with a
diagram indicating the directions of polarizations for the
two beams.
Sketch schematically the wave surfaces produced by a
point source in calcite explaining the reason for this.
Explain circular polarization of light and its production
with a diagram.
Explain optical activity with a diagram.
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