Polarization
Polarization
This chapter examines polarization. As with radiometry, polarization can be a confusing topic. Unfortunately, unlike radiometry, its complexity is not primarily due to confusing units. The physics of polarized light is genuinely tricky. This is another subfield of optics that is made easier by thinking of light as a wave. Polarized light in nature is a scattering phenomenon. However, not all scattering is equally effective at polarizing light. Two kinds work best. The first is single scattering by particles much smaller than a wavelength of light. The other way in which scattering can create polarized light is via coherent scattering—in particular, reflection from smooth substances such as glass, water, and many leaves or structurally colored objects like iridescent butterfly wings.
Keywords: polarization, polarized light, scattering, single scattering, coherent scattering, reflection
Princeton Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
