Does circularly polarized light pass through a linear polarizing filter, regardless of the orientation of such filter?
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1$\begingroup$ Might be worth the experiment ;) $\endgroup$– Kyle KanosCommented Jun 11, 2015 at 0:42
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$\begingroup$ Yes, I thought so too. I already bought the filters and then I didn't know where to get the circular polarized light source. $\endgroup$– Chris VCommented Jun 11, 2015 at 8:21
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$\begingroup$ @ChrisV 3D Glasses! Well, the right kind fo 3D gogggles work as circular polarizers. $\endgroup$– ThrivethCommented Apr 3, 2016 at 5:07
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$\begingroup$ @Thriveth Good point. Thanks. What I've noticed, though is that the glasses seem to be working as a circular filter on one (front) side and linear on the other side. Could this be the case? $\endgroup$– Chris VCommented Apr 3, 2016 at 7:09
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$\begingroup$ @ChrisV As far as I understand, a circular polarizer is basically a linear polarizer with a quarter-wave plate slapped onto it. $\endgroup$– ThrivethCommented Apr 3, 2016 at 18:05
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1 Answer
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Yes it can pass, and will have the linear polarization of the filter. However, what they do in 3D movie goggles is to put in front of the linear polarizer a quarter wave filter. This polarizes the light in a specific direction, perpendicular relative to each eye.
This ensures that the circularly polarized light of each image passes only to one eye. Otherwise you will see a double image, because each linear polarizer will let light pass from both images (although with a different polarization) so it will be visible and you will no longer perceive a 3D image
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$\begingroup$ Too bad. If it had kept the circular polarization, I would've had an idea for an application $\endgroup$– Chris VCommented Jun 11, 2015 at 8:26