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Hence, in and , the expressions for r s and r p in terms of refractive indices will be interchanged, so that Brewster's angle will give r s = 0 instead of r p = 0, and any beam reflected at that angle will be p-polarized instead of s-polarized. [36] Similarly, Fresnel's sine law will apply to the p polarization instead of the s polarization ...
Fresnel's "plane of polarization", traditionally used in optics, is the plane containing the magnetic vectors (B & H) and the wave-normal. Malus's original "plane of polarization" was the plane containing the magnetic vectors and the ray. (In an isotropic medium, θ = 0 and Malus's plane merges with Fresnel's.)
By Fresnel's sine law, r s is positive for all angles of incidence with a transmitted ray (since θ t > θ i for dense-to-rare incidence), giving a phase shift δ s of zero. But, by his tangent law, r p is negative for small angles (that is, near normal incidence), and changes sign at Brewster's angle , where θ i and θ t are complementary.
Circular polarization is a limiting case of elliptical polarization. The other special case is the easier-to-understand linear polarization. All three terms were coined by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in a memoir read to the French Academy of Sciences on 9 December 1822.
The fraction that is reflected is described by the Fresnel equations, and depends on the incoming light's polarization and angle of incidence. The Fresnel equations predict that light with the p polarization ( electric field polarized in the same plane as the incident ray and the surface normal at the point of incidence) will not be reflected ...
Linear polarized light reflected from a metal at non-normal incidence will generally become elliptically polarized. These cases are handled using Jones vectors acted upon by the different Fresnel coefficients for the s- and p-polarization components.
By Malus's definition, the plane of polarization of a ray was the plane of the ray and the optic axis if the ray was ordinary, or the perpendicular plane (containing the ray) if the ray was extraordinary. In Fresnel's model, the direction of vibration was normal to the plane of polarization.
In the example figure at top of this page, it can be seen that refracted ray with s polarization (with its electric vibration along the direction of the optic axis, thus called the extraordinary ray [7]) is the slow ray in given scenario. Using a thin slab of that material at normal incidence, one would implement a waveplate. In this case ...