A Polaroid is a material which polarizes light. The phenomenon of selective absorption is made use of in the construction of polariods. There are different types of polaroids. A Polaroid consists of micro crystals of…

Bartholinus discovered that when a ray of unpolarised light is incident on a calcite crystal, two refracted rays are produced. This phenomenon is called double refraction (Fig: a). Hence, two images of a single object…

Nicol prism was designed by William Nicol. One of the most common forms of the Nicol prism is made by taking a calcite crystal whose length is three times its breadth. It is cut into…

Crystals like calcite, quartz, ice and tourmaline having only one optic axis are called uniaxial crystals. Crystals like mica, topaz, selenite and aragonite having two optic axes are called biaxial crystals. Three basic types of…

Polarization by Reflection: The simplest method of producing plane polarized light is by reflection. Malus discovered that when a beam of ordinary light is reflected from the surface of transparent media like glass or water, it…

Sir David Brewster conducted a series of experiments with different reflectors and found a simple relation between the angle of polarization and the refractive index of the medium. It has been observed experimentally that the…

The phenomenon of polarization by reflection is used in the construction of pile of plates. It consists of a number of glass plates placed one over the other as shown in Figure in a tube…

The phenomena of reflection, refraction, interference, diffraction are common to both transverse waves and longitudinal waves. But the transverse nature of light waves is demonstrated only by the phenomenon of polarization. It is a property of…