The polarization tag has no wiki summary.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Why does it seem like a broken magnet's poles flip?
I just took a rare earth magnet out of an old hard drive. Lacking an appropriate screwdriver, force was used, and the magnet broke into two pieces; one about a quarter of the original size and one ...
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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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Why can't my eye see itself in the mirror through polarizing 3D-glasses?
I found a pair of polarizing "3D glasses" lying around, and tried to look at myself in the mirror while wearing them.
To my utter confusion, when closing the left eye and only looking through the ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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2answers
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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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Spatial and polarizing beam splitters in a graphical calculus
Suppose I have four wires, and I tensor product them together
$A \otimes B \otimes C \otimes D$
I pass $A \otimes B$ through a spatial beam splitter
$Spl: A \otimes B \rightarrow A^\prime \otimes ...
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1answer
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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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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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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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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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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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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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What ways are there to measure the local polarization of a laser beam?
Measuring the polarization of a laser beam is a simple enough task if the polarization is the same everywhere. You can even buy commercial polarimeters.
How do you go about it if the light beam has ...
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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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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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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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How do Optically Active Compounds Rotate Plane Polarized Light?
I am not sure if this is more of a Chemistry or a Physics question, but in my Organic Chem class we discussed that chiral molecules will rotate plane polarized light. However, my professor did not ...
