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This definition was all the more reasonable because it meant that when a ray was polarized by reflection (off an isotopic medium), the plane of polarization was the plane of incidence and reflection — that is, the plane containing the incident ray, the normal to the reflective surface, and the polarized reflected ray.
Kerr rotation and Kerr ellipticity are changes in the polarization of incident light which comes in contact with a gyromagnetic material. Kerr rotation is a rotation in the plane of polarization of transmitted light, and Kerr ellipticity is the ratio of the major to minor axis of the ellipse traced out by elliptically polarized light on the plane through which it propagates.
Polarized light with its electric field along the plane of incidence is thus denoted p-polarized, while light whose electric field is normal to the plane of incidence is called s-polarized. P-polarization is commonly referred to as transverse-magnetic (TM), and has also been termed pi-polarized or π-polarized, or tangential plane polarized.
In cross-polarized light on left, plane-polarized light on right. The microscope employed is usually one which is provided with a rotating stage beneath which there is a polarizer, while above the objective or eyepiece an analyzer is mounted; alternatively the stage may be fixed, and the polarizing and analyzing prisms may be capable of ...
Fig. 1: Cross-section of a Fresnel rhomb (blue) with graphs showing the p component of vibration (parallel to the plane of incidence) on the vertical axis, vs. the s component (square to the plane of incidence and parallel to the surface) on the horizontal axis. If the incoming light is linearly polarized, the two components are in phase (top ...
Gems are sometimes cut and set either to display pleochroism or to hide it, depending on the colors and their attractiveness. The pleochroic colors are at their maximum when light is polarized parallel with a principal optical vector. The axes are designated X, Y, and Z for direction, and alpha, beta, and gamma in magnitude of the refractive index.
Brewster's angle is often referred to as the "polarizing angle", because light that reflects from a surface at this angle is entirely polarized perpendicular to the plane of incidence ("s-polarized"). A glass plate or a stack of plates placed at Brewster's angle in a light beam can, thus, be used as a polarizer.
In 1822, Augustin-Jean Fresnel found that optical rotation could be explained as a species of birefringence: whereas previously known cases of birefringence were due to the different speeds of light polarized in two perpendicular planes, optical rotation was due to the different speeds of right-hand and left-hand circularly polarized light. [11]