"Polarization (also polarisation) is a property of transverse waves which specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations."
Orientation of the electric and magnetic fields in an electromagnetic wave.
Electromagnetic Waves: Electromagnetic waves are a type of wave that consists of both an electric field and a magnetic field oscillating perpendicular to each other.
Polarization: Polarization is a property of electromagnetic waves that describes the orientation of the electric field in space. The polarization of a wave can be linear, circular, or elliptical.
Polarization States: Polarization states refer to the different possible orientations of the electric field in a polarized wave. The four common polarization states are linear polarization, circular polarization, elliptical polarization, and unpolarized.
Polarization by Reflection: Polarization by reflection occurs when an unpolarized beam of light is reflected off a surface at a certain angle, causing it to become polarized.
Polarizers: A polarizer is a device that is used to selectively pass only one polarization state of light while blocking the other.
Malus' Law: Malus' law is a mathematical formula that describes the intensity of light that passes through a polarizer as a function of the angle between the polarizer and the direction of polarization of the incident light.
Brewster's Angle: Brewster's angle is the angle of incidence at which the reflectance of a polarized beam of light becomes zero. At this angle, the reflected light is completely polarized.
Optical Isotropy: Optical isotropy is a physical property of certain materials that allows light to pass through them without any change in polarization state.
Optical Anisotropy: Optical anisotropy is a physical property of certain materials that causes light to be differently polarized depending on the direction it is traveling through the material.
Jones Vectors: Jones vectors are a mathematical representation of the polarization state of a wave, used to describe how the electric field vector changes in time.
Stokes Parameters: Stokes parameters are a set of four values used to describe the polarization state of light. They are commonly used in polarimetry to measure polarization state.
Mueller Matrix: The Mueller matrix is a mathematical representation of the polarization properties of a material or system. It provides a complete description of the polarization changes that take place as light passes through the system.
Polarization Modulation: Polarization modulation is a technique that is used in optical communications to encode data onto a polarized beam of light.
Circular Dichroism: Circular dichroism is a phenomenon in which circularly polarized light is absorbed differently by left-handed and right-handed molecules, providing a way to determine the structure of biological molecules.
Optical Rotation: Optical rotation is a property of certain materials that causes them to rotate the polarization plane of linearly polarized light as it passes through them. It is used in polarimetry to measure the concentration of chiral molecules in a solution.
Linear polarization: The electric field of the wave vibrates in a single plane, perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
Circular polarization: The electric field vector rotates around the direction of propagation, tracing out a circle in time.
Elliptical polarization: The electric field vector traces out an ellipse in time, with the major axis of the ellipse oriented at an angle to the direction of propagation.
Horizontal polarization: The electric field vibrates parallel to the Earth's surface.
Vertical polarization: The electric field vibrates perpendicular to the Earth's surface.
Left-handed circular polarization: The electric field vector rotates counterclockwise as the wave propagates.
Right-handed circular polarization: The electric field vector rotates clockwise as the wave propagates.
Linearly polarized light: Light that is composed of waves vibrating in a single plane only.
Non-polarized light: Light that is composed of waves vibrating in random planes, which cancels out when viewed collectively.
Partially polarized light: Light that includes both linearly polarized and non-polarized components.
"In a transverse wave, the direction of the oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of motion of the wave."
"In contrast, in longitudinal waves, such as sound waves in a liquid or gas, the displacement of the particles in the oscillation is always in the direction of propagation, so these waves do not exhibit polarization."
"Transverse waves that exhibit polarization include electromagnetic waves such as light and radio waves, gravitational waves, and transverse sound waves (shear waves) in solids."
"By convention, the 'polarization' of electromagnetic waves refers to the direction of the electric field."
"An electromagnetic wave such as light consists of a coupled oscillating electric field and magnetic field which are always perpendicular to each other."
"In linear polarization, the fields oscillate in a single direction."
"In circular or elliptical polarization, the fields rotate at a constant rate in a plane as the wave travels, either in the right-hand or in the left-hand direction."
"Light or other electromagnetic radiation from many sources, such as the sun, flames, and incandescent lamps, consists of short wave trains with an equal mixture of polarizations; this is called unpolarized light."
"Polarized light can be produced by passing unpolarized light through a polarizer, which allows waves of only one polarization to pass through."
"The most common optical materials do not affect the polarization of light but some materials—those that exhibit birefringence, dichroism, or optical activity—affect light differently depending on its polarization."
"Light also becomes partially polarized when it reflects at an angle from a surface."
"According to quantum mechanics, electromagnetic waves can also be viewed as streams of particles called photons."
"The polarization of an electromagnetic wave is determined by a quantum mechanical property of photons called their spin."
"A photon has one of two possible spins: it can either spin in a right-hand sense or a left-hand sense about its direction of travel."
"Circularly polarized electromagnetic waves are composed of photons with only one type of spin, either right- or left-hand."
"Linearly polarized waves consist of photons that are in a superposition of right and left circularly polarized states, with equal amplitude and phases synchronized to give oscillation in a plane."
"Polarization is an important parameter in areas of science dealing with transverse waves, such as optics, seismology, radio, and microwaves."
"Especially impacted are technologies such as lasers, wireless and optical fiber telecommunications, and radar."
"Transverse waves that exhibit polarization include electromagnetic waves such as light and radio waves, gravitational waves..."