Topic: Polarization

Introduction:
 The wave nature of light was established quantitatively by the phenomena of interference
and diffraction.
 With the help of these experiments, wavelength, frequency and velocity can be
determined for a given light beam. However, the nature of the light cannot be predicted.
 By studying the phenomena of polarization, the nature of light can be qualitatively
estimated as having transverse character.
Some Basic Definitions:
 Un-polarized light:
The light having vibrations in all possible directions with equal probability and
perpendicular to the direction of propagation is known as un-polarized light. The
ordinary light obtained for all light sources is an un-polarized light.
 Polarized light (Plane polarized light):
The light having vibrations only in one plane and in a direction perpendicular to the
direction of propagation is known as polarized or plane polarized light. The intensity of
polarized light is half of the intensity of un-polarized light.
 Polarizer: An optical element which transforms the un-polarized light into polarized
light by using the utilizing the phenomenon of selective absorption or double refraction.
 Analyzer: An optical element which is used to identify the plane of vibration of plane
polarized light is known as analyzer.
There is no difference between analyzer and polarizer in fabrication but they differ in
their roles.

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Polarization:
The phenomena of transforming un-polarized
light into a polarized light are called
Polarization.
This can be achieved by using an optical dev
ice called as polaroids.
Plane of vibration:
It is the plane in which the electric field vector
of plane polarized light vibrates.
Plane of polarization:
It is a plane perpendicular to the plane of
vibration.
Polaroid: (For Reference)
 Polarizing sheets used to produce plane
polarized light.
 Constructed from dichroic crystals like
iodosulphate of quinine. A paste of these
tiny crystals is prepared in nitro
cellulose and then squeezed through a
set of fine parallel slits.
 In the obtained thin sheet crystals are arranged with their axis parallel to each other. This
sheet is then sandwiched between two glass or plastic plates.
Applications of polaroids:

 Used as polarizer and analyzer.

 Used in wind shields of cars and aircrafts to reduce the glare of light.

 Used in sunglasses and cameras.

 Used in liquid crystal displays

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Polarization of Light waves: (Demonstrating transverse nature of light)
 When a light beam is passed through a
pair of tourmaline crystal plates A and
B with their planes perpendicular to the
direction of propagation of light.
Intensity is maximum in this position
(full transmission).
 Rotating plate A about the propagation
direction doesn’t change the character
of transmitted light.
 Gradually rotating plate B from its
parallel position with A, the intensity is found to be reduced. Thus complete darkness
occurs for perpendicular position of plate A and B (no transmission).
 Intermediate brightness (partial transmission) is observed for any other positions of the
plates A & B
Law of Malus
Statement:
When a completely plane polarized light (PPL) beam is incident on an analyzer,
the intensity of the polarized light transmitted through the analyzer varies as the square
of the cosine of the angle between the transmission axis of the polarizer and analyzer.
Let us assume that I1 is the intensity of unpolarized light incident on the polarizer.
1
Then the intensity of plane polarized light will be 𝐼0 = 2 𝐼1 .

Let E0 be the amplitude of the PPL incident on the analyzer.

Let θ be the angle
between the transmission axis of
polarizer and analyzer.
The amplitude of the
incident PPL can be resolved
into two components;
parallel component: E0 cos θ
perpendicular component : E0 sin θ

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 The parallel component is transmitted through the analyzer and perpendicular component
is blocked. Thus only component of amplitude responsible to get the intensity of
transmitted light through analyzer is E0 cos θ.
Thus the resultant amplitude of the light transmitted through the analyzer is
𝐸 = 𝐸0 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃
Intensity, I α E2
1
Thus, 𝑰 = 𝑰𝟎 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝟐 𝜽; where, 𝐼0 = 2 𝐼1 ; I1 is the intensity of unpolarized light.
𝟏
If θ = 0° or θ = 180° then axes are parallel and hence, I = I0 = 𝟐 𝑰𝟏

If θ = 90° or θ = 270° then axes are perpendicular and hence I = 0

Methods of producing plane polarized light
 Polarization by Reflection from Dielectric surfaces
 Polarization by Refraction (Pile of Plates)
 Polarization by Scattering
 Polarization by Selective absorption (dichrosim)
 Polarization by Double Refraction
Double Refraction
Isotropic crystals:
When a light beam is incident on an isotropic medium such as glass slab, it refracts as a
single ray. In isotropic crystals, the atoms are arranged a regular periodic manner and hence all
the physical properties of refraction are same in all directions. Glass, water, air are the examples
of isotropic materials.
Anisotropic crystals:
In an-isotropic crystals, the arrangement of atoms is different in different directions and
hence the physical properties vary with different directions. Glass, water, air are the examples of
isotropic materials. In such crystals the force of interaction between the two atoms is different in
different crystallographic directions. This results in different velocities in different directions and
different index of refraction in different directions within the crystal. The an-isotropic crystals
are divided into uniaxial and biaxial crystals.
Uniaxial crystals- One of the two refracted rays is an ordinary ray and the other one is the
extraordinary ray. Examples: Calcite, tourmaline, quartz etc
Biaxial crystals- both the refracted rays are extraordinary rays. Examples: mica, topaz,
aragonite etc

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Ordinary ray (o-ray): These are the rays which obeys Snell’s law and its vibrations are
perpendicular to principle section.
Extraordinary ray (e-ray): These are the rays which does not obey Snell’s law and vibrations
are parallel to the principle section.
Erasmus Bartholinus in 1669 observed that a beam of ordinary un-polarized light on passing
through calcite crystal splits up into two refracted rays; one of them is the ordinary ray and the
other one is the extraordinary ray. This phenomenon of causing two refracted rays by a crystal is
known as Double Refraction or Birefringence. And the crystals showing this property are
termed as birefringent.

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Some Basic Definitions:

 Optic axis:
It is defined as a direction along a line passing through anyone of the blunt
corners and making equal angles with each of the three edges which meet at this corner.
 Principle section:
A plane AEGC contains
the optic axis AG of the crystal
and is perpendicular to the two
opposite refracting surfaces
ABCD and EFGH. The p lane
AEGC is called the principle
section of the crystal for that
pair of faces.
As rhombohedral has six faces,
there exist three principle
sections corresponding to each
pair of opposite faces.
 Principle section of ordinary ray contains ordinary ray and optic axis.
 Principle section of extra-ordinary ray contains extra-ordinary ray and optic axis.
Huygen’s theory of Double Refraction
The phenomena of Double refraction were explained by Huygens on the basis of
following Assumptions:
1. Every point in a double refracting medium is a source of two types of wavefronts;
a. Ordinary wavefront: It is spherical as these waves travels with same velocity in all
directions. The R.I. of the crystal is same for these waves in all the directions.

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 b. Extraordinary wavefront: It is ellipsoidal as these waves travel with different
velocity in different directions. The R.I. of the crystal for these waves is different in
different directions.
2. The o-waves and E-waves travel with same velocity along the optic axis. Hence the two
wavefronts meet at the optic axis.
3. In some crystals, vo > ve in all directions except along the optic axis. Since, vo > ve ; µo <
µe in all directions except along the optic axis. Since the birefringence (µe - µo) is
positive, such crystals are called as positive crystal. Here, the O-wavefront which is
spherical lies outside the E-wavefront which is ellipsoidal.

4. In some crystals, vo < ve in all directions except along the optic axis. Since, vo < ve ; µo >
µe in all directions except along the optic axis. Since the birefringence (µe - µo) is
negative, such crystals are called as negative crystal. O-wavefront which is spherical lies
inside the E-wavefront which is ellipsoidal.

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Propagation of light in calcite crystal:
Case -1 : Optic axis perpendicular to the crystal surface
 The O and E – wavefronts travel in the same direction with the same velocity.
Hence double refraction is not observed.

Case - 2 : Optic axis parallel to the crystal surface

 The O and E – wavefronts travel in the same direction with the different velocities.
Hence double refraction is not observed.
 Due to different velocities, some path difference is introduced between the two waves
which depend on the thickness of the crystal. Such crystal plates are called retarding
plates.

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Case - 3: Optic axis inclined to the crystal surface
 The O and E – wavefronts travel in the different direction with different velocities.
 Hence double refraction is observed.

Propagation of light in quartz crystal:

Case -1 : Optic axis perpendicular to the crystal surface
 The O and E – wavefronts travel in the same direction with the same velocity. Hence
double refraction is not observed.

Case - 2 : Optic axis parallel to the crystal surface

 The O and E – wavefronts travel in the same direction with the different velocities. Hence
double refraction is not observed.

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  Due to different velocities, some path difference is introduced between the two waves
which depend on the thickness of the crystal.

Case - 3: Optic axis inclined to the crystal surface

 The O and E – wavefronts travel in the different direction with different velocities.
Hence double refraction is observed

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD):

 Liquid crystal phase (mesomorphic phase) is an intermediate phase between the solid and
the liquid phases of matter.
 It flows like any other liquid but a certain degree of molecular arrangement is maintained.

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  They are anisotropic solids and consists of long rod-shaped organic molecules which tend
to get aligned parallel to an externally applied electric field. This property is used in
LCD.
 It exists in many phases; 1) Thermotropic phase and 2) Lyotropic phase.
Thermotropic phase includes:
 Nematic liquid crystal phase
 Smectic liquid crystal phase
 Cholestric liquid crystal phase
 Discotic liquid crystal phase
Amongst them, Nematic crystals have the property of rotating the plane of vibration of
PPL. The amount of rotation is proportional to the thickness of the liquid crystal. The
crystal loses this property if a small potential difference of about 2-3 volts is applied.
Working of LCD:
 The liquid crystal is placed between two
thin glass plates separated by spacers. A
thin layer of transparent metallic coating
is deposited on the inner side of the
glass plates to provide electrical contact.
 This assembly is placed between two
polaroids with mutually perpendicular
axes and a mirror is placed beyond the
second polaroid.
 When unpolarized light is incident on
polaroid-1 it transmits PPL with
vibrations parallel to its axis.
 When no P.D. is applied across the
crystal it rotates the plane of vibration by 90°.
 The plane of vibration now becomes parallel to the axis of polaroid -2.
 When the light passes through the crystal again its plane of vibration is again rotated by 90°
due to which the plane of vibration now becomes parallel to the axis of polaroid -1.
 Hence there is a reflected light when no P.D. is applied and the display appears bright.
 When the P.D. difference is applied across the crystal, it doesn’t rotate the plane of vibration.
 Hence it remains perpendicular to the axis of polaroid-2 which blocks light completely.

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Thus, there is no reflected light when P.D. is applied across the crystal and the display appears
dark.
Example:
In seven segment displays, each segment has a similar to that in shown in the Figure 2. The
seven segments are arranged in the form of “8”. By applying voltage across a set of segments,
different numbers can be displayed. The displayed number appears dark against a bright
background. Such displays are used in calculators as their power consumption is very low.

Books Referred:

1. A Textbook of Optics by Dr. N. Subrahmaniyam, Brij Lal and Dr. [Link]

2. A Textbook of Engineering Physics by Dr. [Link] and Dr. P. Kshirsagar

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