Polarisation

Question 1

What was the original idea behind the transverse nature of light?

Answer 1

The light waves that are vibrating in planes perpendicular to each other do not interfere.

Question 2

what is an unpolarised light?

Answer 2

The light in which the planes of vibration are symmetrically distributed about the propagation direction of the wave is called unpolarised light.

Question 3

Sketch a picture of a source emitting unpolarised light.

Answer 3

A source produces many photons, each with a different plane of electric field vibration. Moreover, the orientation of these planes of polarisation changes rapidly. In general, the light produced as such has an equal distribution of plane of polarisation about the direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation. Thus, the light coming out of such a source is unpolarised.

Question 4

What is the source of light composed of?

Answer 4

An ordinary source of light is composed of large numbers of atom emitters.

Question 5

What is an optical vector?

Answer 5

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