Experiment 3 – The Polarization of Light 1

Experiment 3

The Polarization
of Light

1 Introduction
In this experiment, we will study various polarizations of light. These
will include linearly polarized, circularly polarized, elliptically polar-
ized and unpolarized light. The polarization of light will be described
quantitatively by the degree of polarization. We will also study the re-
flection of linearly polarized light from a plane surface. In these studies
we will use a photodetector and a computer to acquire the data.

2 Background - see Hecht, Chap. 8

2.1 Types of Polarization
The electric field of a propagating transverse electromagnetic wave lies
in a plane normal to the direction of propagation. Consider a wave
propagating along ẑ. For most of this discussion, we shall consider a
wave at a particular instant in time and examine the orientation of the
electric field vector in our x − y coordinate system.

2.1.1 Polarized Light

A general expression for the E-field is:

E = x̂E0x cos(kz − ωt) + ŷE0y cos(kz − ωt + φ). (1)

where φ is a phase shift between the x̂ and ŷ directions. If φ = 0, the

electric field oscillates along a line. This is linearly polarized light. The
angle of the polarization is determined by the relative magnitudes of
E0x and E0y . If φ = ±π/2, and E0x = E0y the electric field vector traces
out a circle in the x − y plane. This describes circularly polarized light.
Experiment 3 – The Polarization of Light 2

If φ 6= 0, ±π/2 and/or E0x 6= E0y , the light is elliptically polarized. The

electric field traces out an ellipse, that in general can have any major
to minor axis ratio and an arbitrary angle.

2.1.2 ”Unpolarized” Light

If light is monochromatic, it is polarized. It must be some form
of elliptically polarized light (where we consider linear and circular to
be limiting cases.) For light to be ”unpolarized” requires a random
phase variation between the x and y components of the field, and some
time averaging. All light is always fully polarized at any instant in
time. Unpolarized light is only possible if there are multiple frequencies
present. Our HeNe lasers may or may not be fully polarized. They tend
to lase in a few ”modes” with orthogonal polarizations, producing light
separated in frequency by ∼ 1 GHz (note this is only a part in 105 of
the optical frequency, so it still looks monochromatic). We will learn
more about lasers later in the course, but at the moment, what you
need to know is that over time (minutes to hours) the amount of light
in the two modes can drift. If it is all in one mode, the laser will be
linearly polarized. If it lases in both modes with equal intensity, it will
appear unpolarized (because any measurement we make will average
over many cycles of the difference frequency). This drift will be an
impediment to your measurements, and some of you will be lucky and
will have much more stable lasers than others. To do experiments we
will put one polarizer in front of the laser to make it linearly polarized,
but how much light is transmitted through this polarizer will depend
on the state of the laser (and may change in time!).

2.2 Malus’s Law

Consider polarized light of intensity I(0) incident on an ideal linear
polarizer. Let the transmission axis of this polarizer be at an angle of θ
with respect to the initial polarization. Only light with it’s electric field
vector parallel to the axis of the polarizer will be transmitted through
the polarizer.
The intensity of the light emerging from the second polarizer is given
by Malus’ Law:
I(θ) = I(0) cos2 (θ). (2)
To go one step further, consider the situation where light from the first
polarizer is incident on a second polarizer whose transmission axis is at
an angle of ψ with respect to the initial polarization. The intensity of
light emerging from the second polarizer is given by

I(ψ) = I(0) cos2 (θ) cos2 (θ − ψ). (3)

Experiment 3 – The Polarization of Light 3

2.3 Degree of Polarization

The degree of polarization is basically a measure of the extent to which
the light we are studying is polarized and is given by:
Imax − Imin
V = , (4)
Imax + Imin
where Imin and Imax are the minimum and maximum intensities of the
light, respectively. For partially polarized light, this can also be written
as:
Ip
V = , (5)
Ip + Iup
where Ip is the intensity of the polarized portion and Iup is the intensity
of the unpolarized portion. Sometimes V is called the fringe visibility.

2.4 Reflection of Linearly Polarized Light

When linearly polarized light is incident on a plane surface, the amount
of light reflected, the reflectance (R), depends on the angle of incidence
and the orientation of the polarization vector relative to the scattering
plane. This is described by the Fresnel equations:

 tan (θi − θt ) 2
 
Rk = 
  (6)
tan (θi + θt ) 

 sin (θi − θt ) 2
 
R⊥ = 
  . (7)
sin (θi + θt ) 

One consequence of Eq. 6 is that when θi + θt = π/2, tan (θi + θt ) →

∞ and Rk → 0. This occurs when θi = θB where θB is called Brewster’s
angle and θt = β. Substituting θB and β into Eq. 6, subject to θB +β =
π
2
leads to
nt
tan θB = . (8)
n0
At θB only light with its E-field perpendicular to the scattering plane
will be reflected. Consequently, it is possible to produce polarized light
from unpolarized light by allowing it strike an interface at Brewster’s
angle.

3 Experiment
You are supplied with 3 polarizers, one on a motorized rotation stage.
You will have to deal with the laser drifts, so you will need to make
stability measurements to disentangle effects due to the laser from your
Experiment 3 – The Polarization of Light 4

measurements. Using the data acquisition system, measure the inten-

sity stability of your laser, and then the time-dependent polarization
state of your laser.
Measure Brewster’s angle for the block of glass supplied. The polar-
izers’ axes are not marked, so you will need to figure out how to assure
that the polarization of the beam striking the block is parallel to the
plane of incidence.
Verify Malus’ Law for one and two polarizers. A demonstration that
mystifies many observers is that placing a polarizer in between two
crossed polarizers allows light to be transmitted that was previously
blocked. Set up this system and figure out why this is so.
Go in the hallway and look at the light reflected off the floor. Is it
polarized, and if so, along what direction?
If you have or can borrow polarizing sunglasses, measure their po-
larization properties.
Multiple scattering of light can affect the polarization state. Waxed
paper makes a good multiple scatterer. Measure the polarization of the
light after passing through a piece of waxed paper.
An optically active medium has a different index of refraction for
right- and left-circularly polarized light, which has the effect of rotating
linearly polarized light. Sugar molecules are chiral - they have a left-
handed twist, so a sugar solution is optically active. Measure the effect
of transmitting polarized light through a cell containing corn syrup.
We only have two cells, so they need to be shared.