Optics Essentials

5	Polarization

Light consists of electric and magnetic fields, and the direction of the electric field is the direction of polarization. Light polarization can be linear, elliptical, or random. For a linear polarized light, the electric field oscillates in a single linear direction (e.g., up and down) as light propagates, as shown in Figure 5.1a. For a circular or elliptical polarized light, the electric field rotates as it propagates, as shown in Figure 5.1b. In most cases, light is randomly polarized, namely, the direction of polarization varies randomly in time as shown in Figure 5.1c.

5.1    POLARIZERS

Polarizers are optical components that only pass one polarization direction. Common uses of a polarizer are in photography and for polarized ...