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Polarization of Light

How do materials polarize light? I know that they polarize light in the same plane, but light has two perpendicular directions with the two fiels, so which direction is reflected and why? And if ...
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37 views

How do particles become entangled?

A person asked me this and I'm just a lowly physical chemist. I used a classical analogy (how good or bad is this and how to fix?) Basically, light has a net angular momentum of zero, insofar as ...
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27 views

Relationship between photon polarization and photon angular momentum

What direction is the angular momentum of right hand polarized light points to? Is it vertical to its propagating direction? I want to recognize this in quantum theory.
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43 views

Reflection of a polarised beam

The past days I've been trying to understand how AutoFocus(AF) works on photographic cameras. There is a statement that says AF systems are polarisation sensitive. This means that they can only work ...
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Doubts concerning Wigner's classification

Wigner classified particles in function of the eigenvalues of $P_\mu P^\mu$ and $W_\mu W^\mu$. Then, it can be proved that for massless particles spin values can be only $\pm s_{max}$. But for a ...
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The electric field inside a uniformly polarized cylinder

Given a uniformly polarized cylinder with some polarization $P\vec{z}$ which has radius $R \gg d$ where $d$ is the height and $R$ is the radius. The cylinder's center is on $\vec{z}$ and it's on the ...
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Polarization of sound

The sound can't be polarized beacuse the vibration of such type can't be polarized beacuse the vibration of such type can't be limited or controlled by any barriers and so polarization is not possible ...
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67 views

Three polarizers, 45° apart

If light is passed through two polarizing filters before arriving at a target, and both of the filters are oriented at 90° to each other, then no light will be received at the target. If a third ...
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40 views

Why electric field outside the sphere that carries polarization is 0?

There is a sphere with radius $R$ that carries a polarization $$\vec P(\vec{r})=k\vec r$$ $\vec r$ is the vector from the center. I found electric field the outside generated by the sphere is $\vec ...
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39 views

How can a Jones vector give linear polarization along an axis?

If we represent a Jones vector by two complex-valued exponentials, $J_1 = e^{i \phi_1}$ and $J_2 = e^{i \phi_2}$, how can this ever give a polarization along the x-axis? We write such a polarization ...
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43 views

coordinate change differential equation polar

I noticed that v [in step (2.5)] is not the same as the terms from the first formula, even if they are related.. I tried to understand how did he reach to this ...
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What is the difference between the properties of Electron spin and Photon polarization/helicity?

What is the difference between a photon's polarization/helicity and an electrons spin half? I know that the photon is spin 1 but isn't its polarization analogous to spin half? This question stems ...
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How does a photon leave trace of its polarization state in a photon detector but not trace of which direction it came in?

Some quantum erasure experiments involve polarization of photons. In one such experiment with a double slit, a horizontal polarizer is used in front of one slit, and a vertical polarizer is used for ...
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52 views

double slit experiment with two opposite quarter waveplates

Consider the usual double slit experiment involving laser and a double slit and a screen. Now place in front of the left slit a quarter waveplate (let's call it QWP1) that changes a certain linear ...
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99 views

If light is linearly polarized, does it have some spatial extent?

If light (a photon) is linearly polarized, say vertically, does it have some vertical spatial extent (perhaps in amplitude)?
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652 views

Will freely rotatable polarizers align?

Will two freely rotatable linear polarizers (placed in sequence and at some angular offset less than, say, 45 degrees) eventually align if you shine (plenty of) unpolarized light at the first one? If ...
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76 views

Monochromatic wave

If we have an EM wave like this one: $$E=\begin{pmatrix}1\\i\\0\end{pmatrix}e^{-i(\omega t-kz)}$$ The wave has clearly only one frequency $\omega$, but is it monochromatic? My doubt is that it's ...
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1answer
49 views

Defining a local polarization field in a distribution of charge

I am currently building a theoretical model where charges of opposite signs are created by pairs and then diffuse and are drifted by an electrical field. I am taking this along a single so far, for ...
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93 views

Polarization Measurement

Assume having a laser beam which is horizontal linear polarized. As one measure the sqrt(intensity) transmitted through a rotatable linear polarizer its pattern corresponds to a cosine. Plotting this ...
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What is a photon's speed inside a dieletric?

We know that EM waves are slowed down in a dielectric. But at what speed does the photons that make up the wave travel? Do they always travel at the speed $c$, but colliding/being absorbed and ...
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84 views

Circular Polarization

As one observes an clockwise (cw) circular polarized electromagnetic wave which is reflected off a denser medium or metal interface it is changed to a counter-clockwise (CCW) polarized em wave plus a ...
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149 views

3D movie glasses making white light look red and blue

While waiting for a 3D movie to start, I was playing with the glasses they give you. I understand each lens has different polarized filters, so the left and right superimposed images on the screen go ...
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1answer
146 views

Filter out polarized light

Unpolarized light enters the polarizer and gets polarized at one certain angle. If we place an analyzer behind the polarizer and align them, we observe that all light is transmitted. If we rotate the ...
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478 views

Why Does Light Not Become Polarized In A Magnetic and/or Electric Field?

I am familiar with the Faraday Effect, but I remain confused as to why the electric and/or magnetic components of light do not naturally align themselves with a magnetic or electric field (in a ...
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1answer
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How would one generate Brownian light? What would it look like?

When light is an equal mix of all visible frequencies, we call it white light. By analogy, sound that is a mix of all audible frequencies is called white noise. For sound, there is an additional ...
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203 views

Jones vector and matrices

With Jones vectors and matrices one can describe the change in polarization of a EM wave. What is the convention of the reference coordinate system; Is it fixed or does it change whenever the ...
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1answer
70 views

Measuring the quantum state of light

A clarification please The following scheme to measure linear polarization states (a single polarizing beam splitter and two photo counters) orientation (as $arctan \sqrt{\frac{v}{h}}$) of coherent ...
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Circular polarization of variable-frequency light by 3D cinema glasses

A dominant method to obtain 3D images in the cinemas seems to be circular polarization. Separate pictures are projected with (alternating) circular polarization filters and passive glasses of the ...
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103 views

Polarization photon and Stokes parameters

I have the following situation: About the polarization of the photon, I introduce the basis: Horizontal polarization $|\leftrightarrow>=\binom{1}{0}$ Vertical polarization ...
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1answer
78 views

Is the spin state of an atom related to the polarization of the photon it spontaneously emits?

From literature I've been reading, I find that scientists are able to "map" atomic states onto photon states. Are they talking about spin states and corresponding photon polarization states? Can ...
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1answer
143 views

Strange light polarization effect?

I spent a while working with MgF2-windowed xenon flash / discharge lamps. Primarily, I characterized their spectra with two normal-incidence spectrometers against a calibrated Deuterium lamp. In this ...
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4answers
403 views

Why is the $S_{z} =0$ state forbidden for photons?

If photons are spin-1 bosons, then doesn't quantum mechanics imply that the allowed values for the z-component of spin (in units of $\hbar$) are -1, 0, and 1? Why then in practice do we only use the ...
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Representing a polarization vector for light as a 'manifold of two state'

Explain me these projections please Context: I was reading a paper (Phys. Rev. A 68, 052307) which involved mesoscopic coherent states of light. There, in order to calculate the uncertainty of a ...
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2answers
204 views

about waveplate and polarization

I have a throlabs half- and quarter-wave plate with rotation plate. There shown the angle scales and a line denotes the fast axis. But what does the angle mean? I do some research and someone said the ...
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218 views

Why does the electric field dominate in light?

I read a book on the wave property of light where the author mentioned that the electric field, instead of magnetic field, dominates the light property. I don't understand why. In Maxwell's theory, a ...
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2answers
142 views

Circular polarization: properties and detection

I am thinking about the property of circular polarization of light. I have two circularly polarized beams, one is rounding in positive direction, other is negative. My task is to figure out: if ...
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1answer
124 views

about polarization of light

In the course of circuits and electronics, I remember there is an experiment to show the polarization of the wave as lissajous figures. I am wondering for polarized laser, is there any way to ...
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1answer
52 views

Reason for the convention about polarization states

I'd like to know if there is a special reason for limiting convention of polarization state to waves that can be split in just two components of equal frequency.
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1answer
191 views

Are circular polarizations a basis for any light polarization?

I was trying to solve an exercise in classical optics, consisting in finding the type polarization of certain field profiles. And, by analyzing this one: $$E_x(z,t) = |E|sin(kz-\omega t)\\ ...
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128 views

Transmission formula for two near field polarizing filters?

Consider two parallel wire "comb" filters oriented at 45 degrees relative "tooth" angle. The comb tooth spacing spacing is much less than one wavelength, and the comb tooth length is much more than ...
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3answers
319 views

Liquid crystal shutter with >90% transmission?

Today's liquid crystal shutter glasses, when in the "transparent" state, exhibit only 40% light transmission. They work using two polarizer layers, one which is liquid crystal and goes {vertical ...
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1answer
108 views

Coherency matrix of partially polarized light doesn't contain all information on polarization state?

The electric field of quasi-monochromatic, partially polarized light can be expressed by the following random process (Goodman, Statistical optics) ...
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1answer
326 views

What are the properties of the partially polarized light on refraction?

When a ray of ordinary light is passed on the surface of the water the reflected light will be completely polarized( vibrations in one plane). My question is what will be plane of vibration in the ...
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3answers
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Polarization true or false: Repeating circular filters is different from repeating linear filters?

Begin with standard abbreviations for polarized filters: H = Horizontal, V= Vertical, D = Diagonal, R = Right circular. HHH means three horizontal filters in a row. Start with totally unpolarized ...
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148 views

Is it possible to split a single light beam into two beams of opposite circular polarization?

A properly oriented calcite crystal will separate an unpolarized beam into two beams, one vertically polarized and one horizontally polarized. Other polarizers pass just one polarization and absorb ...
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3answers
145 views

Can you prepare the superposition of two arbitrary light beams?

More specifically, how do you physically prepare the superposition of two beams of polarized light? Suppose beam A and beam B, the two input beams, each have unknown polarizations. Beam C, the ...
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2answers
92 views

Liquid crystal polarizes light reflection question

I was hoping someone could help me with understanding why a row of polarizes reflects a light wave when the whole row is the same length as the wavelength of the light. I pretty much get the ...
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1answer
208 views

Electromagnetic field of unpolarized light

I need help in finding an expression for the instantaneous electric and magnetic field of unpolarized light in order to write down and evaluate the time-averaged norm of the Poynting vector (i.e. the ...
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1answer
220 views

determine the direction of the polarizing axis

I want to calculate the direction of the polarizing axis of a single polarizer.Is it possible to determine? If possible then How I can determine it?.
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81 views

Is reversal of magnetic polarity in a planet an instantaneous occurence?

Just what the title states - Does reversal of magnetic poles in a planet refer to the point in time when reversal is complete? OR Does it refer to the entire drawn out process (assuming the ...

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