Office Hours

• Office hours are posted on the website.

– Molly: Tuesdays 2-4pm
– Dr. Keister: Wednesdays 10am-12
– Prof. Goldman: Wednesdays 2-3:30pm

• All office hours are in the help room downstairs

• If none of these work and you need extra help

before the exam, please email one of us as far in
advance as you can
 Scattering and Polarization

• Adding vectors

• Polarization by reflection

• Polarization by scattering

• 3D movies

• Polarizers and analyzers

 Adding Vectors
Y

y-component

X
x-component

We can decompose any But we don’t have to use x and

polarization direction into an x- y. We can use any axes that are
component and a y-component perpendicular to one another
 Adding Vectors
Y

Q
q-component

y-component

X
x-component
p-component

Now a polarization that was just

x in the first set of axes has two
components, p and q
 Concept Question

Which polarization has the largest x-component?

A B C
y y y

x x x
 Electromagnetic Waves
• The polarization is defined as the direction of
oscillation of the electric field

Polarized “along the z-axis”

Polarizing Filters
 Polarization by Reflection
Review reflection and refraction:

Incident ray

Reflected ray

AIR

GLASS

Transmitted
(refracted) ray
 Brewster’s Angle
Consider the special case where the transmitted and
reflected rays are at right angles to one another

Incident ray

Reflected ray

AIR

GLASS

Transmitted
(refracted) ray
 Brewster’s Angle
We can decompose the incident light into two parts: polarized in
the plane of the figure, and perpendicular to the figure. We will
consider the part in the plane of the figure

Incident ray Electric field

oscillation
Reflected ray

AIR

GLASS

Transmitted
(refracted) ray
 Brewster’s Angle
The oscillating charges in the glass are what produce the reflected
ray. However, they cannot radiate along their direction of travel.
Thus there CANNOT be a reflected ray in this special situation.

Incident ray Electric field

oscillation
Reflected ray

AIR

GLASS

Transmitted
(refracted) ray
 Brewster’s Angle
• This special angle of incidence is called “Brewster’s
Angle”

• For light incident at this angle, there is not reflected

ray polarized in the plane of the figure.

• Thus the reflected light

is polarized perpendicular
to the plane of the figure
 Brewster Windows
• This effect is also used when you have polarized light
and you don’t want any of it to be reflected
• Laser light is typically polarized, so this can be used
inside a laser to make sure we aren’t losing energy to
surface reflections

Brewster
window
 Polarizing Sunglasses and Glare
• Sunglasses lenses with a polarizer in them can
eliminate specular surface reflections
 Polarizing Sunglasses and Glare
• The light coming from everywhere else in the scene
will be unpolarized
• Half of it will be transmitted by the glasses
 Concept Question

Which polarization should sunglasses reject to

eliminate glare from water puddles and other shiny
surfaces? Assume the surface is horizontal, as
shown in the diagram.

A. Sideways

B. Up and down
The reflections from the horizontal puddle will be polarized horizontally. So to eliminate
glare from this surface, we want to reject the horizontal polarization, thus rejecting the
surface reflections
Polarizing Lenses: Example

Without Polarizing lenses

With Polarizing lenses

Polarizing Camera Filters
 Polarization by Scattering

• Consider the following

analogy:

• If we wiggle the rope up and

down, a wave is generated
in the cross rope

• If we wiggle the rope

sideways, there is no wave
generated in the cross rope
 Polarization by Scattering

• If we wiggle the rope at an Y

angle, the resulting wave in Incident wave

the cross rope will only be
up and down Up and down component
Creates new wave in rope
X
• The resulting wave will be Sideways component
linearly polarized, even Does nothing

though the “incident wave”

was not
 Polarization by Scattering
• Light from the sun is unpolarized. It hits particles in
the atmosphere, causing them to oscillate
• The oscillating particles then radiate light

Z
Y
 Polarization by Scattering
• There will be no oscillation in the z direction
• The wave traveling in the y-direction will thus be
polarized in the x-direction

Z
Y
 Concept Question
Along which axis will the wave traveling in the x-
direction by polarized? (views E3 and E4, circled)

A. X
B. Y X
C. Z

Z
Y
 Polarization by Scattering
• Recall the we see the blue in the sky because of
light scattered by the atmosphere
• The light coming from points in the sky 90°from
the sun will be linearly polarized
When the sun is overhead, the
sky near the horizon will be most
polarized
Polarization by Scattering
When the sun is at the horizon,
the point of maximum
polarization will be straight up in
the sky.

The part of the sky directly

opposite the sun will be
unpolarized, as will areas of the
sky very near the sun
Other areas of the sky will be
partially polarized
Camera Filters and the Sky
 3D Movie Projection and Viewing
• 3D movies are actually stereograms, which create
the illusion of depth by showing your eyes slightly
different images
• This was originally done using glasses with red
and cyan lenses and pictures that looked like this:
 3D Movie Projection and Viewing
• Modern 3D movies are projected using different
polarizations instead of different colors.
• Without glasses, the images look like this:
 3D Movie Projection and Viewing
• The two overlapping images are actually projected
through a polarizing filter, alternating in rapid
succession

• The glasses separate the polarized light and each eye

sees something different, creating the illusion of
depth

• The system actually uses circularly polarized light, so

the glasses won’t work like your polarized sunglasses
 Polarizers and Analyzers
• Polarizing filters can also be used to detect the
presence of polarized light

• When used in this way, it is called an analyzer

• How is this useful?

 Polarizers and Analyzers

By changing the relative

orientation of the two
polarizing filters, the
intensity of the light
that makes it all the way
through can be adjusted
Polarizers and Analyzers
 Polarizers and Analyzers
• This is useful for adjusting the intensity of light
without changing the parameters of the beam

• An aperture reduces the size of the beam

• Dimming a light bulb often changes the color

temperature

• Filters are impossible to adjust continuously

• This is very common way to control laser beam

intensity
 Next Time

• We will do a review, I still haven’t figured out the

exact format

• I will put together a study guide for the material

covered since the last exam

• I will send out emails with this information, so

don’t delete them!