Interference and diffraction:

❖ Show that the light travels in the form of waves

❖ However, these phenomena do not tell us about the nature of light waves, i.e., whether the light waves are transverse or
longitudinal or whether the vibrations are linear, circular or elliptical

Polarization of light:

❖ Such important investigations are covered in polarization

❖ A light wave is an electromagnetic wave whose electric and magnetic field vectors vibrate perpendicular to the direction of
wave propagation

❖ A light wave whose electric field vector is vibrating in more than one plane is called unpolarized

❖ Example: light emitted by sun, lamp and candle flame

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Polarization
❖ It is possible to convert an unpolarized light into polarized light in which the vibrations occur only in a single plane

❖ The process of converting an unpolarized light into polarized light is known as polarization

❖ Only transverse waves can be polarized

❖ The polarization of longitudinal waves such as sound waves is not possible as in these waves the vibrations occur only in the
direction of the wave propagation

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Difference between unpolarized light and polarized light

Unpolarized light
❖ An unpolarized light is symmetrical about the direction of propagation as the light vector vibrates along all possible directions
perpendicular to direction of propagation of light

Polarized light

❖ Lack of symmetry is found about the direction of propagation

❖ The vibrations may be oriented in a single direction in linearly polarized light

❖ Vibrations of light vector are in vertical direction (in the plane of paper)

❖ Vibrations are taking place in horizontal direction (perpendicular to the plane of paper)

❖ However, in circularly polarized light and elliptically polarized light, the direction of vibrations may rotate as the wave
propagates 3
Means of production of plane polarized light:
❖ Transmission

❖ Reflection

❖ Refraction

❖ Scattering

Let’s visit these mechanisms one-by-one

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Mechanism No. 1: Transmission:

❖ It can be achieved by passing an unpolarized light through a polaroid filter

❖ Polaroid filter

❑ Most general method

❑ The polaroid filter has long chain molecules that are aligned in the same direction within the filter

❑ The alignment of these molecules constitute a polarization axis that extends across the length of the filter

❑ This axis allows EM waves to pass through whose vibrations are parallel to this axis

❑ Any vibrations perpendicular to the polarization axis are stopped by the filter

❑ Intensity of light is reduced by 1/2

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Mechanism No. 1: Transmission:
Malu’s law:
❖ Based on Malu’s “𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 ϴ intensity law”, the intensity of transmitted
light is described when there is a relative orientation between the
direction of polarization of the incoming light and the polarization axis
of the filter
❖ Emerging light is polarized in the same direction as the transmission
axis of the analyzer
❖ Its intensity varies as 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 ϴ

❖ A: amplitude of the plane polarized light

❖ A cos ϴ: only this component is passed through the analyzer

❖ I: intensity of the transmitted light

❖ I = A cos ϴ × A cos ϴ = 𝐴2 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 ϴ = 𝐼0 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 ϴ

❖ I max: ϴ = 0 degree

❖ I min: ϴ = 90 degree
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Mechanism No. 2: Reflection:
❖ We can obtain partially or sometimes fully polarized light when the light is reflected by the surface of an electrical insulator

❖ The degree of polarization depends on the angle of incidence of the light and the refractive index of the reflecting material

❑ At a particular angle of incidence, the reflected light is completely polarized

❑ The reflected light is the component of incident light polarized normal to the plane of incidence

❑ The incident angle at which the reflected light is completely polarized is known as Brewster’s angle or angle of
polarization (ip)

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Mechanism No. 2: Reflection:
Brewster’s law:

❖ We will find that at the polarizing angle, the reflected and refracted rays are at right angles to each other

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Mechanism No. 3: Refraction:
❖ It occurs when a beam of light passes from one material into another material

❖ Under this situation, the path of the light beam changes its direction at the surface of the two materials and then the
refracted beam acquires some degree of polarization

❖ The light split into two beams upon entering the crystal and both the refracted light beams are polarized:

❑ One in a direction parallel to the surface (E-ray)

❑ Other in a direction perpendicular to the surface (O-ray)

Let’s talk about some commonly used terms before proceeding further
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Optic Axis:
❖ Case of lenses: there exists a line which passes through the centre of curvature of a lens surface such that the light rays are
neither reflected nor refracted ➔ this is called the optic axis or the principal axis

❖ Case of certain crystals: for these substances there exists a specific direction within the crystal known as the optic axis or the
principal axis, which is determined by the atomic configuration of the crystal

❑ Example: dotted line AB

❑ Any ray of ordinary unpolarized light incident along the optic axis or parallel to this axis does
not split up into two rays

❑ The light ray gets split into two rays called as ordinary ray (O-ray) and extraordinary ray (E-ray)
only when it makes an angle with the optic axis

❑ It is observed that the ordinary and extraordinary rays propagate at the same speed along the
optic axis ➔ this is true for any direction which is parallel to the optic axis

➢ Uniaxial crystal: crystal in which only one such axis (direction) exists (calcite, tourmaline and quartz)

➢ Biaxial crystal: (topaz and aragonite)

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Some more commonly used terms ….
Principal Section of a Crystal:

❖ The plane containing the optic axis and the perpendicular to the pair of opposite faces of the crystal is known as principal
section for that pair of faces of the crystal

❖ Since the crystal has six faces, for each pair of opposite faces of the crystal, there are three principal sections

Let’s now revisit the mechanism of refraction actually double refraction

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Double Refraction:

❖ Double refraction is an optical property in which a single ray of unpolarized light when passes through a uniaxial crystal gets
split into two refracted rays, each propagating in a different direction

❖ These two rays are named as O-ray and E-ray

❖ Therefore, the phenomenon of splitting of light into two rays is known as double refraction

❖ If a narrow beam of unpolarized light PQ is incident on the face AB of the crystal at an angle i, it splits up into O-ray and E-ray
inside the crystal

❖ O-ray makes an angle of refraction 𝑟𝑜 whereas the E-ray makes an angle 𝑟𝑒 with the optic axis inside the crystal

❖ Both the rays are plane -polarized and their vibrations are at right angles to each other and to the direction of propagation

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Differences between O-ray and E-ray:
O-ray E-ray
1. The refractive index for O-ray is observed to be constant in 1. The refractive index for E-ray varies according to the
all the directions direction taken

2. Velocity of O-ray inside the crystal is same in all the 2. E-ray travels in the crystal with different velocities in
directions different directions

Since the speed of light wave in a medium is the ratio of its

speed in vacuum and the index of refraction for that
wavelength, an E-ray can move either faster or slower than an
O-ray

Example 1: in a negative crystal where the refractive index for

E-ray is smaller than that for O-ray, the velocity of E-ray is larger
than the velocity of O-ray in the crystal

Example 2: in a positive crystal where the refractive index for

E-ray is greater than that for O-ray, the velocity of E-ray is
smaller than the velocity of O-ray in the crystal

3. Obeys Snell’s law 3. Does not obey Snell’s law 13

Polarization by Double Refraction (1):
❖ AB and CD: principal sections of the two crystals

❖ Here we rotate the second crystal (note change in orientation of CD with every step from a ➔ e)

❑ O-ray from both the crystals passes undeviated and

emerges as O1-ray

❑ E-ray passes the second crystal along a path parallel

to its path inside the first crystal and finally emerges
as E1-ray

❑ Images O1 and E1 are separated by a distance equal

to sum of the two displacements found in each
crystal

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Polarization by Double Refraction (2):
❖ AB and CD: principal sections of the two crystals

❖ Here we rotate the second crystal (note change in orientation of CD with every step from a ➔ e)

❑ If the second crystal is rotated about the incident

light taking it as the axis and keeping the first crystal
fixed, the O-ray and the E-ray split separately into two
rays

❑ When the principal section of the second crystal

makes an angle of 45° with the principal section of
the first crystal, the four images of equal intensities
are seen

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Polarization by Double Refraction (3):
❖ AB and CD: principal sections of the two crystals

❖ Here we rotate the second crystal (note change in orientation of CD with every step from a ➔ e)

❑ At 90° rotation, the images O1 and E1 finally

disappear and the new images O2 and E2 acquire
maximum intensities

❑ At 135° angle of rotation, the intensities of four

images become equal

❑ At 180°, the principal sections of both the crystals are

again parallel. However, their optic axes are oriented
in the opposite directions ➔ O2 and E2 disappear
and the images O1 and E1 superimpose with each
other to form a single image

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Polarization by Double Refraction (4):
Explanation: ❖ AB and CD: principal sections of the first and second crystals

❖ ϴ: Ab and CD are inclined at an angle ϴ

❖ A ray of ordinary unpolarized light splits into two plane-polarized rays after
emerging from the first crystal

❖ O-ray vibrates perpendicular to the principal section AB

❖ E-ray vibrations are along the principal section

❖ a: amplitude of each ray (represented by NO and NE)

❖ On entering the second crystal, each of the O- and E-rays is split into two
components

❖ The O-ray is split into two components as O1 = a cos ϴ and E2 = a sin ϴ

❖ E-ray is split into two components as E1 = a cos ϴ and O2 = a sin ϴ

Let’s now study three cases (summarizing steps a ➔ e) 17

Huygen’s Theory of Double Refraction:
❖ When a light wave strikes the surface of a doubly refracting crystal, each point of the crystal becomes the origin of two
secondary wavelets, named as ordinary ray and extraordinary ray

❖ The wavefront corresponding to ordinary ray is spherical as the velocity of ordinary ray remains the same in all the directions

❖ The wavefront corresponding to extraordinary ray is an ellipsoid of revolution with the optic axis as its axis of revolution ➔
this is due to the fact that the velocity of E-ray is different in different directions in the crystal

❖ The two wavefronts corresponding to O-ray and E-ray touch each other along the optic axis since both the rays travel with the
same velocity along the direction of optic axis

❖ For negative uniaxial crystals sphere lies inside the ellipsoid

❖ For positive uniaxial crystals the ellipsoid lies inside the sphere

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Other examples

▪ Quartz

▪ Cellophane

▪ Tourmaline

A doubly refracting crystal

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Mechanism No. 4: Scattering:
❖ The scattering of light by the air molecules produces linearly polarized light in the plane perpendicular to the incident light

❖ When two plane-polarized light waves are allowed to superimpose, and the resultant electric vector rotates in such a way that
its tip traces a circle, the resultant light is known as circularly polarized light

❖ If the magnitude of the resultant electric vector varies periodically during its rotation and its tip traces an ellipse, then the
resultant light is called elliptically polarized light

❑ Linear vibrations (amplitude A) in the incident light are along the

direction PQ that makes an angle ϴ with the optic axis

❑ Incident light of amplitude A spits into two components A cos ϴ (E-ray)

and A sin ϴ (O-ray)

❑ These components constitute E-ray and O-ray in view of their vibrations

which are parallel and perpendicular to the optic axis respectively

❑ Calcite is a negative crystal ➔ velocity of E-ray will be greater than that

of O-ray ➔ a phase difference is introduced between them after
traveling through the plate 20
Calcite crystal: negative crystal
Mechanism No. 4: Scattering:
❖ We will find that the plane and circularly polarized lights are the special cases of an elliptically polarized light which is
obtained by the superposition of two plane-polarized lights

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 Retardation Plates
Also known as wave-plates are optical elements that creates a phase shift in the transmitted
light with the help of a crystalline material

Half wave plate:

A plate of a doubly refracting crystal whose thickness is such that to produce a phase
difference of π and a path difference of λ/2 between the ordinary and extraordinary
waves is called half wave plate.

The thickness of half wave plate is given as

𝝀
𝒕=
𝟐(𝝁𝒆 − 𝝁𝒐 )

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Quarter wave plate:
A plate of a doubly refracting crystal whose thickness is such that to produce a phase
difference of π/2 and a path difference of λ/4 between the ordinary and extraordinary
waves is called quarter wave plate.

The thickness of quarter wave plate is

𝝀
𝒕=
𝟒(𝝁𝒆 − 𝝁𝒐 )

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 Production of Plane Circular and Elliptically Polarized Light

Plane Polarized Light: Use a Nicol Prism

Elliptically Polarized Light : Use a quarter wave plate

Circularly Polarized Light: Use a quarter wave plate inclined in such a way that plane of
vibration makes angle of 450 with optic axis

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Analysis of Polarised light
General Light

Rotating Nicol

Intensity variation Intensity variation

No Intensity
with min zero with min non-zero
variation
intensity intensity

Either elliptically
Either circularly or
Plane Polarised or partially plane
unpolarised
polarised

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Optical activity
The property of rotating the plane of vibration of the plane polarized light about its direction
of travel by some crystals is known as optical activity.

The phenomena is called as optical rotation and the angle through which the plane of
polarization is rotated is known as angle of rotation.

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Specific Rotation

The specific rotation of a substance at a particular temperature and for a given

wavelength of light used is defined as the rotation (of plane of vibration of polarized
light) produced by one decimeter length of its solution when the concentration is 1 gm
per cubic cm.

𝜃
Specific rotation 𝑠 =
𝑙𝑐

Where l is in decimeter

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