Abstract
Polarization phenomena are characteristic of transverse waves, namely when the wave function is a vector normal to the propagation direction. Our focus will be on light waves, but the concepts discussed will have a general character. We shall define the different polarization states of light and establish the relationship between them. Light from thermal sources is not polarized. We then study the phenomena of dichroism, scattering, reflection and birefringence, the structure of the light wave in an anisotropic medium and, finally, optical activity.
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Notes
- 1.
Unfortunately, the world “polarization”, used in physics, has several different meanings. In this chapter, we are dealing with the “polarization” of light, which we have defined. In this sentence and in the following discussion, “polarization” is also the electric dipole density in the dielectric.
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Bettini, A. (2017). Polarization. In: A Course in Classical Physics 4 - Waves and Light. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48329-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48329-0_6
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48328-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48329-0
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