Polarized light
Description
Light in which all vibrations are parallel to one plane. Natural light, radiation sunlight and light artificial light , is incoherent meaning it contains wave vibrations from all different directions. Polarized light is a single orthogonal component whose vibration vector travels in one direction. Light can be separated, or plane polarized, using light reflection, light refraction, or dichroic characteristics of a mirror, crystal, or filter. Materials which have two different path lengths depending on the direction of the polarized light are said to be birerefringent.
Synonyms and Related Terms
"polarization; optisk polarisering (Dan.); Polarisiertes Licht (Deut.); lumire polarise (Fr.); polarizzazione (It.); polarisatie (Ned.); polaryzacja (Pol.); polarizao (Port.)
Authority
- R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966
- Walter C. McCrone, John Gustave Delly, Walter C. McCrone, John Gustave Delly, The Particle Atlas, W. McCrone Associates, Chicago, IV, 1972
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization (Accessed Sept. 20, 2005)
- Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000