Polarisation of Light AIAS

Circularly, elliptically polarized light

Half wave, quarter wave plates
Optical rotation & specific rotation

ENGINEERING PHYSICS
Dr. C. Konar

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01.. Linearly, circularly & elliptically polarised light

02.. Half wave plate, quarter wave plate

03.. Optical rotation, specific rotation

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Definitions:

Plane Polarised light:  If the vibrating electric field

of a light wave is confined in a plane, then the light
is called a polarised light.

Unpolarised light: If the vibrating electric field of a

light wave is confined in many planes, then the
light is called a polarised light.
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Unpolarised light Polarised light

Directions of propagation of both the rays

of light are towards us from the screen.
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One of the ways of producing polarised light is

by passing through polaroid filter.

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Pic credit: https://
www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/light/U12L1e.cfm#trans
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PLANE OF VIBRATION: The plane

containing the direction of
vibration and the direction of
propagation of light is called
the plane of vibration.

PLANE OF POLARIZATION:
The plane passing through the
direction of propagation and Plane of vibration and plane
containing no vibration (or of polarisation of a light ray
perpendicular to the plane of are perpendicular to each
vibration) is called plane of other.
polarization. 6
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Read polarisation basics from the following link:

https://
www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/light/U12L1e.cfm#tr
ans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_(waves)

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Polarisation states:

1.. Plane polarised light (already discussed)

2.. Unpolarised light (already discussed)

3.. Circularly polarised light

4.. Elliptically polarised light

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The tip of the electric vector is tracing out the following curves

Linearly/plane Elliptically Circularly

polarised light polarised light
polarised light
Diagram credit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_(waves) 9
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Malus’ Law

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Brewster's angle (also known as the

polarization angle): It is an angle
of incidence at which light with a
particular polarization is perfectly
transmitted through a transparent
dielectric surface, with no
reflection. When unpolarized light
is incident at this angle, the light
that is reflected from the surface is
therefore perfectly polarized. This
special angle of incidence is called
Brewster’s angle.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster's_angle 11
 Brewster’s Law AIAS

 
Referring to the figure in the previous page:

For the medium of refractive index , it is found that

, where is the Brewster’s angle or

polarisation angle

This is Brewster’s law

We can produce plane polarised light by using Brewster’s law in the reflection of light
from a smooth surface of a transparent medium.

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Superposition of two linearly polarised

waves whose planes of vibration are
perpendicular to each other.

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Suppose the amplitude of the incident

plane polarised light in a crystal is A and
it makes an angle θ with the optic axis.
Therefore the amplitude of ordinary ray
vibrating along PO is 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 and
amplitude of extra ordinary ray vibrating
along PE is 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃. Since a phase
difference δ is introduced between the
two rays after passing through the
thickness ‘t’ of crystal , the rays coming
out of the crystal can be represented in
terms of two simple harmonic motions as

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for extra ordinary ray, 𝑥 = 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 sin(𝜔𝑡 + 𝛿)
and for ordinary ray, 𝑦 = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 sin 𝜔𝑡.

Let 𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 = 𝑎 & 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 = b .

 
Then
------ (1)
 
-------(2)

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 From equation (2)

------(3)
------(4)

From equation (1)

 
From eqn (3) & (4), the above eqn becomes
 
-----(5)

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From eqn (5) as we obtained on the previous

page is as follows.

 
---(5)

This is the equation of the curve that the

tip of the electric vector will trace out.
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Linearly polarised light

 Specialcases: (i) If the thickness of the plate be such that , then
and . Then Eqn –(5) gives

This represents a pair of coincident straight lines through the origin

having slope (see the Figure). This means the emergent light is
linearly polarised. With the same direction of vibration as the incident
light.

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Linearly polarised light

 
Special case (ii): If the thickness of the plate be such that , then and . Then Eqn –(5)
gives

This again represents a pair of coincident straight lines through the origin having slope
(see the Figure). This means the emergent light is linearly polarised with vibration
direction making an angle with that of the incident light. This case is the basis of the half
wave plate.

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Elliptical/circular polarised light

 Special
case- (iii): If If the thickness of the plate be such that ,
then and . Then Eqn –(5) gives

This means an ellipse with axes along x and y directions. Hence

the light emerging from the plate is elliptically polarised, the axes
of the ellipse being along and perpendicular to optic axis.

Special case- (iv):

If a = b, then the ellipse will be a circle, and the light will be
circularly polarised.

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Quarter wave plate

&
Half wave plate

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Quarter wave plate:

A doubly refracting crystal plate has appropriate

amount of thickness such that it produces a path
difference of between O-ray and E-ray when the
rays come out of the plate. This plate is called quarter
wave plate.

 expression of thickness of a quarter wave plate

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Half wave plate:

A doubly refracting crystal plate has appropriate

amount of thickness such that it produces a path
difference of between O-ray and E-ray when the
rays come out of the plate. This plate is called half
wave plate.

 expression of thickness of a quarter wave plate

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Optical rotation, optical activity

&
Specific rotation

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Optical rotation, optical activity:

If plane polarised light passes through some substance, the

plane of polarisation is rotated about the direction of
propagation through some angle. This phenomenon is called
optical rotation.

This property of the substance is called optical activity.

The substance through which the light passes and gets

rotated is called optically active substance.
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Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_rotation 26
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Levorotary and dextrorotary substances:

If the rotation of the plane polarised light is clockwise:

dextrorotary.

If the rotation of the plane polarised light is counter

clockwise: levorotary.

For instance:
sucrose and camphor are d-rotary, cholesterol is l-rotary.

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  SPECIFIC ROTATION
For a given substance (at a given temperature), the angle by
which the angle of polarization of light (of a given
wavelength) is rotated is proportional to L (the path length
through the material of the substance) and proportional to
its concentration/density.

(length of substance) and

(concentration )

 is specific rotation
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Read from this link: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_rotation
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