Physics › Section S · Vision, instruments, and wave optics › Topic S.7
Polarization
Light is a transverse wave, so its vibrations have a direction as well as a size. Filters that select that direction cut the glare off a lake, darken a blue sky in photographs and make every LCD screen work.
In this topic
- A wave with a direction
- Unpolarised light and polarising filters
- Malus's law
- Worked example: a third filter lets light through
- Worked example: dimming by rotation
- Polarisation by reflection
- Worked example: Brewster's angle for glass
- Sunglasses and the blue sky
- Liquid crystal displays
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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