Linear polarization

Diagram of the electric field of a light wave (blue), linear-polarized along a plane (purple line), and consisting of two orthogonal, in-phase components (red and green waves)

In electrodynamics, linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic field vector to a given plane along the direction of propagation. See polarization for more information.

Historically, the orientation of a polarized electromagnetic wave has been defined in the optical regime by the orientation of the electric vector, and in the radio regime, by the orientation of the magnetic vector.

Mathematical description of linear polarization

The classical sinusoidal plane wave solution of the electromagnetic wave equation for the electric and magnetic fields is (cgs units)

$\mathbf{E} ( \mathbf{r} , t ) = \mid \mathbf{E} \mid \mathrm{Re} \left \{ |\psi\rangle \exp \left [ i \left ( kz-\omega t \right ) \right ] \right \}$

$\mathbf{B} ( \mathbf{r} , t ) = \hat { \mathbf{z} } \times \mathbf{E} ( \mathbf{r} , t )/c$

for the magnetic field, where k is the wavenumber,

$\omega_{ }^{ } = c k$

is the angular frequency of the wave, and c is the speed of light.

Here

$\mid \mathbf{E} \mid$

is the amplitude of the field and

$|\psi\rangle \ \stackrel{\mathrm{def}}{=}\ \begin{pmatrix} \psi_x \\ \psi_y \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} \cos\theta \exp \left ( i \alpha_x \right ) \\ \sin\theta \exp \left ( i \alpha_y \right ) \end{pmatrix}$

is the Jones vector in the x-y plane.

The wave is linearly polarized when the phase angles $\alpha_x^{ } , \alpha_y$ are equal,

$\alpha_x = \alpha_y \ \stackrel{\mathrm{def}}{=}\ \alpha$.

This represents a wave polarized at an angle θ with respect to the x axis. In that case the Jones vector can be written

$|\psi\rangle = \begin{pmatrix} \cos\theta \\ \sin\theta \end{pmatrix} \exp \left ( i \alpha \right )$.

The state vectors for linear polarization in x or y are special cases of this state vector.

If unit vectors are defined such that

$|x\rangle \ \stackrel{\mathrm{def}}{=}\ \begin{pmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \end{pmatrix}$

and

$|y\rangle \ \stackrel{\mathrm{def}}{=}\ \begin{pmatrix} 0 \\ 1 \end{pmatrix}$

then the polarization state can written in the "x-y basis" as

$|\psi\rangle = \cos\theta \exp \left ( i \alpha \right ) |x\rangle + \sin\theta \exp \left ( i \alpha \right ) |y\rangle = \psi_x |x\rangle + \psi_y |y\rangle$.

Applications of linear polarization

A research group at the MIT Media Lab has reported the use of polarization field synthesis to create a dynamic light field display. The prototype display is composed of multiple LCD layers, each acting as polarization rotators, enclosed by a pair of crossed linear polarizers. A Four-dimensional light-field can be emitted by algorithmically determining the optimal rotations to be applied at each layer of the display.

References

• Jackson, John D. (1998). Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0-471-30932-X. 

External links

• Animation of Linear Polarization (on YouTube)
• Comparison of Linear Polarization with Circular and Elliptical Polarizations (YouTube Animation)

See also

• Sinusoidal plane-wave solutions of the electromagnetic wave equation
• Polarization
  • Circular polarization
  • Elliptical polarization
• Photon polarization

 This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C".