Dr.
Paramjit Kour
Dept of Physics
Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. Patna Campus
Course code: PH 113
Course title: PHYSICS
Credits: 4 L:3 T:1
Total Mark:100
Module :5
Module :1
Physical Optics
Module :2
Electromagnetic theory
Module:3
Special theory of Relativity
Module:4
Quantum Mechanics
Module :5
Laser
The form of energy which gives us the sensation of vision is light.
The branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of
light is Optics.
It include the interactions of light with matter
It Included the construction of instruments that use or detect it.
Waves transfer energy, not matter, from one place to another
A wave is a disturbance that moves energy from one place to another.
The substance that a wave moves through is called the medium.
That medium moves back and forth repeatedly, returning to its original
position. But the wave travels along the medium. It does not stay in one place.
Different properties of light
Reflection
Refraction
Superposition of two or more wave ,interference
Resultant wave grater, equal or less amplitude
Coherent source
a constant phase difference
same frequency
The bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object is called
Diffraction.
Light is electromagnetic wave
Electric field E and magnetic field B are in phase and perpendicular to
each other
The electromagnetic wave produced due to these wave is perpendicular
to each of them.
X
Electric Field
Magnetic field Z
Y
Polarization is the phenomenon of the restriction of vibration to a particular direction
Restriction of electric field vector E in a particular plane, so that vibration occurs in a
single plane
Characteristic of transverse wave
Longitudinal wave cannot be polarized, direction of their oscillation is along the
direction of propagation
Why Electric field vector is considered during polarization
The relation between electric field vector and magnetic field vector
E = c X B
Where E is electric field
B is Magnetic field
c is the velocity of light
c= 3x 108m/sec
E>>B
So electromagnetic wave is predominately a electric wave.
So the change in characteristics of electromagnetic wave.
Mainly change in the characteristic of electric wave.
So the polarization of light is mainly of polarization of electric wave.
Plane of Vibration
A plane that contain the direction of electric field and light propagation
Plane of polarization
The plane perpendicular to the plane of vibration
TYPES OF POLARIZATION
1.Linear Polarization
2.Circular Polarization
3.Elliptical Polarization
Linear polarization
Plane polarized wave
Electric field vector oscillates along a straight line in one plane
Two plane polarized waves are added according to the rules of vector addition
The amplitude and phase relation between the two resultant wave
Determine whether the wave is linear, elliptical or circular polarized
CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
Equal amplitude with phase difference of 90o
Plane of oscillation rotates around the propagation axis
ELLIPTICAL POLARIZATION
Unequal amplitude with phase difference of 90o
The resultant electric field vectors tip describe an ellipse in any fixed plane intersecting
and normal to the direction of propagation
Special case of elliptical polarization
Linear polarization
Circular polarization
Method of Polarization
1. Reflection
2. Refraction
3. Scattering
4. Selective Absorption
5. Double Refraction
POLARIZATION BY REFLECTION
Unpolarized light undergoes polarization by reflection from non
metallic surface like glass, snow
Maximum polarized light will produce when the incident light and reflected
ray is 90o.
The incident angle is equal to the polarizing angle or Brewster’s angle.
Reflected ray is linearly polarized parallel to the reflecting surface.
Incident angle = Polarizing angle
Brewster’s law is the tangent of polarizing angle is equal to the refractive
index of material.
i.e. tanθp=µ
if the angle of incidence is not exactly the Brewster’s angle the reflected ray
will only be partially polarized.
θp
θp
µ= =
µ=
1. When the angle of incidence on a certain material is60 o,the reflected light is completely
polarized. Find the refractive index for the material and also the angle of refraction
tanθp=µ
tanθp=µ
µ=1.732
Angle of refraction=30o
2.A glass plate is to be used as a polarizer. Find the angle of polarization.
Also find the angle of refraction
µ=1.54
Angle of refraction is 30
Then find out the refractive index
Application of Brewster’s law
1.Brewster’s law used to determine the refractive index of Opaque materials
2.Used as window in He-Ne laser
3.Used in optical fiber for no reflection losses
POLARIZATION BY REFRACTION
•When unpolarized light is incident at Brewster's angle on a smooth glass surface.
•The reflected light is totally polarized.
•Refracted light is partially polarized.
•If stack of glass plate is used ,then the transmitted ray is polarized.
•The transmitted light will be polarized parallel to the plane of incidence.
•Draw back
•A good potion of light is loss in reflections
The degree of polarization of refracted (transmitted) light
Where m = no of plates required
µ = refractive index of material
Polarization by Scattering
Linear polarized light
Un polarized light
Partially polarized light
Polarization occurs due to scattering.
Absorption+ re emission Scattered light
Light strikes the atom of materials.
Electron of the atoms are set into vibration.
Vibrating electrons produce new EM wave radiated in all possible directions.
These new wave strikes neighbouring atom and the process continue.
The degree of polarization depends on the angle of scattering.
The beam scattered at 900 with respect to the incident direction is linearly polarized.
The direction of vibration of E vector in the scattered light will be perpendicular to
the plane of propagation of light.
Sun light scattered by air molecules is polarized.
The maximum effect is observed on a clear day when the sun is near the horizon.
The light reaching on the ground from directly overhead is polarized to the extent of
70% to 80%.
Polarization by scattering occurs in atmosphere leading to blue sky.
According to Rayleigh’s law amount of scattering α1/λ4
Polarization by Selective absorption
In 1815 Biot discovered that certain mineral crystal absorbs light selectively.
When natural light passes through a crystal such as tourmaline, it splits into
two components
These two components are polarized in mutually perpendicular direction.
The crystal strongly absorbs light that is polarized in a direction parallel to a
particular plane in the crystal
It freely transmits the light component polarized in a perpendicular direction.
This difference in the absorption for the rays is known as selective absorption
or dichroism
If the crystal is of proper thickness, one of the components is totally absorbed
and the other component emerging from the crystal is linearly polarized
The difference in absorption in different direction may be understood from the
electron theory.
When the frequency of incident light wave is close to natural frequency of the
electron cloud, the light waves are absorbed strongly.
Crystals that exhibit selective absorption are anisotropic.
The crystal splits the incident wave in to two waves.
The component having its vibration perpendicular to the principal plane of the
crystal gets absorbed.
The component with parallel vibrations is less absorbed and it is transmitted.
The trans mitted light is linearly polarized.
The drawback of this method is that the crystal of bigger size cannot be grown.
POLARIZATION BY DOUBLE REFRACTION
When light is incident on a calcite crystal, it splits into two refracted rays.
This phenomenon is called double refraction or birefringence.
The crystal is called birefrigent.
The two rays produced in double refraction are linearly polarized in mutually
perpendicular directions.
The ray which obeys Snell's law of refraction is known as ordinary ray or o-ray.
The other ray does not obey snell's law is called extraordinary ray or e-ray
Calcite Crystal:
Calcite crystal in the form of a rhombohedron bounded by six parallelograms with
angles equal to 78 and 102.
At two opposite corners (A&H) the three angles of faces meeting there are all
obtuse.
. These corners (A&H) are known as blunt corners.
Optic axis
A line passing through 'A' making equal angles with each of the three corners gives
the direction of optic axis.
Any line parallel to this line is also an optic axis.
AH is the optic axis of calcite crystal.
If a ray of light is incident along the optic axis or in a direction parallel to the optic
axis, then it will not split up into two rays.
Thus the phenomenon of double refraction is absent when the light is allowed to
Principal Section
A plane containing the optic axis and perpendicular to a pair of opposite faces
of the crystal is called the principal section of the crystal for that pair of faces.
A crystal has six faces, so far every point inside the crystal there are three
principal sections, one for each pair of opposite crystal faces.
A principal section cuts the crystal surfaces in a parallelogram having angles 710 and
1090
The principal section of the crystal is shown.
An end view of any principal section is a straight line shown by dotted line
The plane containing the optical axis and the O -ray is called the principal
plane of O -ray.
The plane containing the optic axis and the E-ray is called the
principal plane of E-ray.
Isotropic Materials
In isotopic materials atoms are arranged in a regular periodic manner.
In isotropic materials, when a light beam is incident, it refracts a single ray.
It means that in such material the refractive index is same in all direction.
e. g. Glass ,water
and air
Anisotropic Materials:-
In anisotropic material the arrangement of atoms differs in different
directions within a crystal.
Physical properties vary like, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity,
velocity of light and have refractive index etc. vary with the directions
Uniaxial Crystal:
In this type of crystal, one of the refracted rays is on ordinary ray and
the other is an extraordinary. e. g. Calcite, tourmaline and Quartz
Biaxial Crystal:
In biaxial crystal both the refracted rays are extra ordinary rays.
e. g. mica, topaz & aragonite
Double refraction
When a ray of light is refracted by a crystal of calcite it gives two refracted
rays.
Positive crystal
When reflective index for extraordinary ray is greater then that of O-ray μe > μo.
Negative crystal
when reflective index for extraordinary ray is lesser then that of O-ray μe < μo
Mark an ink dot on a piece of paper.
If we place a calcite crystal over this dot, then two images of dots are observed.
Now rotate the crystal slowly .
It is found that our image remains stationary ink the second image rotates
with the rotation of the crystal.
The stationary image is known as the ordinary image while the second image is
known as the extraordinary image.
The retracted ray which produces ordinary image is known as ordinary ray O-
ray and the retracted ray which produces extraordinary image is known
extraordinary ray (E-ray).
When a ray of light AB is incident in the calcite crystal making our angle of
incidence i, it is refracted along two paths inside the crystal
Along BC making our angle of retraction r2 and
Along BD making our angle of refraction r1.
These two rays emerge out along CE and DO are parallel
Difference between o-ray and e-ray:
1) The ordinary ray has a refractive index μ0 = sini/sinr1 and the extraordinary
ray
has a refractive index μe = sini/sinr2.
2) The O-ray obeys the laws of refraction and its refractive index is constant.
E-ray its refractive index varies with the angle of incidence and it is not fixed.
3) For the case of calcite μ0 > μe because r1 less than r2.
velocity of light for the O-ray inside the crystal is less than the velocity of light
for E-ray.(μ0 =c/vo and μe = c/ve).
4) The O-ray travels in the crystal with same velocity in all directions; where as
the velocity of E-ray is different in different directions, because its refractive
index varies.
5) Both O-ray and E-ray ar plane polarized and they are polarized in mutually
perpendicular planes.
Polarizer:
Optical device that transforms unpolarized light into polarized light is a Polarizer.
If natural light is incident on a linear polarizer, only that vibration which is parallel to the
transmission axis is allowed to pass through the polarizer while the vibration that is in a perpendicular
direction is totally blocked.
Analyzer:
Optical device, which is used to find whether the light is polarized or unpolarized.
Both polarizer and analyzer are fabricated in the same way and wave the same affect on the incident
light.
NICOL'S PRISM
Calcite crystal is used to prepare the Nicol prism.
William Nicol designed the prism in 1820
.Length of the calcite crystal is three times of its width
The angles in the principal section of the end face are 68 0 and 1120 instead of 710 and
1090 due to grounded crystal plane
The crystal is cut in two pieces by a plane perpendicular to the principal section as
well as the new end faces.
The two parts of the crystal are then cemented together with Canada balsam.
The refractive index of Canada balsam lies between the refractive indices for the
ordinary and extra-ordinary rays for calcite
Unpolarized light after entering the crystal suffers double refraction and
splits up into O-ray and e-ray.
The values of the refractive indices and the angles of incidence at the
Canada balsam layer are such that are e-ray is transmitted while the o-ray is
internally reflected.
The face where the o-ray is incident-is black so that the o-ray is completely
absorbed. Thus we get only the linearly polarized e-ray coming out of the
Nicol prism with the direction of vibration as shown in figure.
Thus, the Nicol Prism works as a polarizer.
The Nicol prism is the most widely used polarizing device.
It is good polarizer but expressive.
It has a limited field of view of about 280
When unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, the intensity of the
transmitted light will be exactly half that of the incident light.
Let E0 is the amplitude of vibration of one of the waves of the unpolarized
light incident on the polarizer.
Let E0 makes an angle θ with the transmission axis of the polarizer.
E0 may be resolved into its rectangular components Ex and Ey
The polarizer blocks the component Ex and transmits the component Ey.
The intensity of the transmitted light is then,
(Only Ey component of E0 is transmitted)
But, Intensity α (Amplitude)2
The value ransmitted light is then
The value θ is from 0 to 2π because unpolarized light has all possible vibrations.
The average value of the function y = f(x) from x = a to x = b is given by:
The intensity of transmitted light through the polarizer is half the intensity of
incident light.
When natural light is incident on a polarizer, the transmitted light is linearly
polarized.
If this light-further parses through an analyzer, the intensity varies with the
angle between the transmissions axes of polarizer, and analyzer.
Malus law
The intensity of the polarized light transmitted through the analyzer is proportional
to cosine square of the angle between the plane of transmission of the analyzer and
plane of transmission of the polarizer
Let I0 is the intensity of unpolarized light.
The intensity of polarized light from the polarizer is I0/2.
This plane polarized light then passes through the analyzer.
Let E is the amplitude of vibration
θ is the angle between this vibration and transmission axis of an analyzer.
E resolves into two components
(i) Ey, parallel to the plane of transmission of the plane of analyzer
(ii) Ex, perpendicular to the plane of analyzer.
Intensity of light for this component
(i) θ = 0 then axis are parallel I= I1
(ii) θ = 90O, then axis are perpendicular I= 0
(iii) θ = 180O, then axis are parallel I= I1
(iv) θ = 270O,then axis are perpendicular I= 0
There are two positions of maximum intensity and two positions of zero
intensity when we rotate the axis of the analyzer with respect to that of the
polarizer.
Two Nicols are oriented with their planes making an angle of 60 ̊.What
percentage of unpolarized light will pass through the system.
Assuming the pass axis of the third Polaroid in the previous question to be
at 45 ̊ to the pass axis of either of the polaroids, calculate the intensity of
the transmitted beam. Assume that all the polaroids are perfect. [Hint:
Apply Malus’ law]
