UNIT : I

CHAPTER : 3
• A light wave is an electromagnetic wave that
travels through the vacuum Or medium.
Electromagnetic Wave
• The phenomenon of polarization can be explained
only by considering the transverse nature of light.

• In longitudinal waves, the particles of the medium

vibrate to and fro in the direction of propagation of
the wave.

• But in the transverse waves, the particles of the

medium vibrate up and down at right angles to the
direction of propagation of the wave.
 Polarization of waves
In transverse wave, if the directions of all the
vibrations at all the points are restricted to one
particular plane, then the wave is called polarized
wave.
Mechanical experiment:
String is used to produce waves.
Optical experiment:
Light source is used to produce waves.
 Representation of plane polarized light (PPL),
Unplarized light (UPL), and partially polarized
light

• In explaining polarization, only the vibrations of the

electric vector are considered, not magnetic.
• It does not mean they are not absent, they are
present.
• But for drawing simplicity they are not shown in the
diagram.
1. Unpolarized light:

The light having vibrations along all possible

directions perpendicular to the directions of the
propagation of the light, is called an unpolarized
light.
2. Polarized light:

The light having vibration only along a single plane

perpendicular to the direction of propagation of
light is called a polarized light.
3. Partially polarized light:
A partially polarized light is a mixture of plane
polarized light and unpolarized light. The vibrations
in the plane of plane polarized light dominate over
the vibrations in other directions.
Calcite crystal: Calcite or Iceland spar is crystallized
calcium carbonate (CaCO3).
• One of the ray obeys Snell’s law of refraction and
hence called an ordinary ray or O-ray.
• The other ray does not obey Snell’s law and is
called an extraordinary ray or E-ray.
• If one of the ray is eliminated, the transmitted by
the crystal will be a linearly polarized light.
• All anisotropic materials exhibit double refraction.
• The two rays formed in double refraction are
linearly polarized in mutually perpendicular
directions.
 Nicol prism
 Nicol prism is an optical device used for producing
and analyzing plane polarized light.

 The Nicol prism is made in such a way that it

eliminates one of the refracted rays by total internal
reflection.

 Ordinary ray (O-Ray) is eliminated and only

Extraordinary (E-Ray) Is transmitted through the
prism.
 Law of Malus
The intensity of polarized light emerging from the
analyzer is proportional to the square of the cosine
of the angle between the plane of the transmission
for the analyzer and the plane of the polarizer.
 Huygens theory of double refraction
Assumptions:
1. When a beam of ordinary UPL strikes a doubly
refracting crystal, each point on the surface sends
out two wavefronts.
2. The O-ray travels with the same speed vo in all
directions and the crystal has a single refractive
index μo = c/vo. ( O-ray has spherical wavefront).
3. The speed of E-ray ve varies with direction. So
Refractive index μe = c/ve varies with direction. (E-
ray has ellipsoidal wavefronts).
4. The velocity ve measured is perpendicular to the
optic axis.

5. The velocities of the O-ray & E-ray are the same

along the optic axis.

6. When rays are incident along the optic axis , the

spherical and ellipsoidal wavefronts touch each
other at points of intersection with the optic axis
and double refraction does not take place.
 Positive and negative crystal
A) Positive crystal:
If vo>ve or μo < μe , the spherical wavefront lies
outside the elliptical wavefront. Such crystals are
called positive crystals. e.g. Quartz, Ice, etc.
B) Negative crystals:
If vo<ve or μo > μe , the elliptical wavefront
lies outside the spherical wavefront. Such
crystals are called negative crystals. E.g.
calcite, tourmaline.
 Cases of double refraction of crystal cut with
optic axis lying in the plane of incidence
1. Parallel to the surface:
Here both O-ray and E-ray travel along same
direction with different velocities. So the path
difference is introduced between them.
This principle is used in the construction of quarter
and half wave plates.
2. Perpendicular to the surface:
As the light is incident in the direction of optic axis,
O-ray and E-ray travels with same speed along the
optic axis. As a result O-ray and E-ray travel with
same direction with same velocity. Hence the
phenomenon of double refraction is absent.

3.Inclined to the surface:

O-ray and E-ray travel with different velocities in
different directions in the crystal. Hence double
refraction is seen in this case and both O-ray and E-
ray are separated by an angle depending upon the
distance travelled in the crystal.
 LCD (As an example of polarization)
• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is a passive device which
works on the principle of polarization.
• It consists of liquid crystal sandwiched between two
thin glass plates with transparent conducting
coating on the inner faces.
• The conducting place is etched in the form of 7-
segment display.
• LCDs are used in displays of Calculators, digital wrist
watches, general displays and now a days in TV’s
also.