POLARISATION OF LIGHT

BY : JIGNASHA PATEL
INTRODUCTION
• On the basis of phenomenon of interference
and diffraction it was established that the light
is a form of wave motion.
• But this phenomenon do not reveal the
character of this wave motion. i.e., whether it
is longitudinal or transverse.
• When the phenomenon of polarisation was
discovered it was established beyond doubt
that light waves are transverse waves.
• In an electromagnetic wave, both the electric
field and magnetic field are oscillating but in
different directions; by convention the
"polarization" of light refers to the polarization of
the electric field.
• First of all we shall explain what we mean by
polarisation and why it is not possible with
longitudinal waves and then discuss the
polarisation of light waves.
• Polarised light has many important applications in
industry and engineering. One of the most
important applications is in liquid crystal displays
(LCDs) which are widely used in wristwatches,
calculators, TV screens, etc.
POLARISATION
• Waves are basically of two types :
(i) longitudinal waves
(ii) transverse waves.
1) A wave in which particles of the medium
oscillate to and fro in the direction of
propagation of the wave is called a
longitudinal wave. Waves produced on a
spring and sound waves are examples of
longitudinal waves. The longitudinal wave
consists of alternate compression and
rarefactions, as shown in figure 1 (a) & (b).
(a)

(b)

Fig.1
2) A wave in which every particle of the
medium oscillates up and down at right angles
to the direction of propagation is called a
transverse wave. Ripples on water surface and
waves on a rope are examples of transverse
waves. The wave propagates in the form of
alternating crests and troughs, as shown in fig.
2.

Fig.2
• So far we have accepted that light energy
propagates in form of wave. We know that
light waves are electromagnetic waves and
they are non-mechanical and transverse.
• Yet, we have not proved that they are
transverse.
• Interference and diffraction of both
longitudinal as well as transverse waves are
possible.
• Hence, it is not possible to know whether the
wave is longitudinal or transverse with the
help of this phenomena.
• In the present lesson we are going to discuss
about such a phenomenon which is possible
only for transverse waves. This phenomenon
is known as polarization.
• Polarization provides an experimental proof
of light waves (electromagnetic waves) being
transverse.
UNPOLARIZED & POLARIZED LIGHT
• Light wave is transverse electromagnetic wave
made up of mutually perpendicular,
fluctuating electric and magnetic fields.
• Traditionally, light wave is described by the
electric field vector, E, and accordingly this
here we will take only E into account.
• A polarization has been observed in light
when it is passed through a crystal called
tourmaline occurring in nature.
 Maximum
P1 Intensity
(a)
P2

P1 No light
P2 (b)
• When an ordinary light is passed through a
pair of tourmaline crystal plates P1 and P2
with their planes at right angles to the
direction of propagation of light the as shown
in (a), the intensity is maximum in this
position.
• But when the plane P2 is rotated through 90°,
i.e., the plane of P2 is perpendicular to plane
of P1 as shown in (b), the intensity is
minimum in this case.
• This shows that light is a transverse wave
motion.
• It is clear that after passing through the crystal
P1, the light vibrates only in one direction. i.e.,
it is polarised because it has acquired the
property of one-sideness.
• The beam of light in which vectors of
intensity of electric field are parallel to each
other are called plane polarized light.
• When light is emitted from the sun or from
the incandescent bulb, the vector E of its
waves will be found to be arranged randomly
as shown in figure.
• Yet, these vectors are in the plane
perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
• Such light is called unpolarized light.
 Schematically representation

In a given beam of light, if the oscillations of

the vectors of intensity of electric field E take
place in all directions in a plane perpendicular
to the direction of propagation, then the light is
called unpolarised light.
Plane of vibration : The plane containing the
direction of the beam and the direction of
oscillations of vector E is called the plane of
vibration. In fig. PQRS is the plane of oscillation.
Plane of polarization : A plane perpendicular to the
plane of oscillation (vibration) and passing
through the beam of light is called the plane of
polarization. In fig. ABCD is the plane of
polarization.
POLARISATION BY
REFLECTION(BREWSTER’S LAW)
• The simplest way of producing a plane
polarised light is by reflection.
• In 1808, Malus discovered that when ordinary
light is reflected from the surface of a
transparent medium like glass or water it
becomes partly polarized.
• The degree of polarization changes with the
angle of incidence.
 ONLY FOR INFORMATION

• DEGREE OF POLARIZATION :Degree of

polarization (DOP) is a quantity used to describe the
portion of an electromagnetic wave which
is polarized. A perfectly polarized wave has a DOP of
100%, whereas an unpolarized wave has a DOP of
0%. A wave which is partially polarized, and therefore
can be represented by a superposition of a polarized
and unpolarized component, will have a DOP
somewhere in between 0 and 100%. DOP is
calculated as the fraction of the total power that is
carried by the polarised component of the wave.
• At a particular angle of incidence the reflected
light has the greatest percentage of polarised
light, of course, the angle depends upon the
nature of the reflecting surface.
• The angle of incidence is known as angle of
polarisation.
• In 1811, Brewster performed a number of
experiments to study the polarisation of light by
reflection at different surfaces.
• He observed that for a particular angle of
incidence known as angle of polarisation, the
reflected light is completely polarised in the plane
of incidence. i.e., having plane of vibration
perpendicular to the plane of incidence.
• Brewster proved that the tangent of the angle
of polarisation  p is numerically equal to the
refractive index μ of the medium. i.e.,
  tan  p
• This is known as Brewster’s law. He also prove
that the reflected and refracted rays are
perpendicular to each other.
Angle between reflected and
refracted rays

M
A D
p
air
B

glass r
N
• As shown in the figure,
MBD  DBC  r  180
 p  90  r  180
 r  90   p
 r   p  90
• Therefore, the reflected and refracted rays are
at right angles to each other.
• According to Snell’s law, refractive index
sin i sin  p sin  p sin  p
     tan  p ....(1)
sin r sin r sin(90   p ) cos  p

Eq.(1) is Brewster’s law.

DOUBLE REFRACTION
• When a ray of unpolarised light is incident on a
face of transparent crystal, two refracted rays are
obtained.
• This phenomenon is known as double refraction.
• Both refracted rays are found to be plane
polarised at right angles to each other.
• It is found that there is a particular direction
inside a crystal such that a ray of light travelling
through the crystal along that direction does not
suffer double refraction.
• This direction inside a crystal is called the
optic axis of the crystal.

• The crystal showing this phenomenon is

known as doubly refracting crystals.
• There are two types of doubly refracting
crystals :
(1) uniaxial, and (2) biaxial.
• In uniaxial crystals there is only one direction
(optic axis) along which the two refracted rays
travel with the same velocity (examples are
calcite, tourmaline and quartz).
• In biaxial crystals, there are two such
directions along which the velocities are the
same (examples are topaz, aragonite, etc.)
• The phenomenon of double refraction can be
illustrated with the following simple
experiment.
• An ink dot is made on a white paper, and a
calcite crystal is placed over it.
• Now, looking through the top face, two images
are observed.
• If now the crystal is rotated slowly in a
direction, it is observed that one image
remains stationary while other rotates in the
direction of rotation of crystal.
• The stationary image is known as ordinary
image while the rotating one is known as
extraordinary image.
• The ordinary ray travels with the same velocity
in all directions in the crystals where as the
extraordinary ray travels with different
velocities in different directions.
• Therefore, refractive index corresponding to
o-ray is a constant and is denoted by0 . The
refractive index corresponding to e-ray varies
and is denoted by  e . The difference between
the refractive indices is known as the amount
of double refraction or birefringence. Thus,

   e  0