Polarization
Polarization: Overview
This topic covers concepts, such as, Polarisation of Light Waves, Terms in Polarisation, Circular Polarised Light & Elliptically Polarised Light etc.
Important Questions on Polarization
The angle at which the intensity of transmitted light becomes maximum when a polarising sheet is rotated between two crossed polaroids is
[ is the angle between transmission axes of first and middle polaroid]

Light, from a sodium lamp, is passed through two Polaroid sheets, and kept one after the other. Keeping fixed, is rotated so that its ‘pass – axis’ can be at different angles, with respect to the pass – axis of .
An experimentalist records the following data for the intensity of light coming out of as a function of the angle .
S. No. (Angle between the pass axis of the two polaroids) |
|||||
(Intensity of light coming out of ) | 0 |
= Intensity of beam falling on
One of these observations is not in agreement with the expected theoretical variation of I. Identify this observation.

Two polaroids are set in crossed positions. A third polariser is placed between the two making an angle with the pass axis of the first polaroid. In what orientations(of third polaroid with respect to first polaroid) will the transmitted intensity be (i) minimum and (ii) maximum?

A light whose electric field vectors are completely removed by using a good polaroid, allowed to incident on the surface of the prism at Brewster's angle. Choose the most suitable option for the phenomenon related to the prism.

Assertion: The electromagnetic waves of all wavelengths can be polarise.
Reason: Polarization is independent of the wavelengths of electromagnetic waves.

When a plane polarised light is passed through an analyser and analyser is rotated through , the intensity of the emerging light

Three circularly shaped linear polarisers are placed coaxially. The transmission axis of the first polariser is at , the second one is at and the third at to the vertical all in the clockwise sense. Each polariser additionally absorbs of the light. If a vertically polarised beam of light of intensity is incident on this assembly of polarisers, then the final intensity of the transmitted light will be close to:

The reflection index of water is and that of glass . A beam of light travelling in water enters into glass. At the angle of incidence, the reflection ray will be pillorized.

Yellow light indicate on smooth surface of block of dense fliest glass for which refractive index is . Angle of refraction is (

What principle is responsible for the fact that certain sunglasses can reduce glare from reflected surfaces?


At polarising angle, the angle between the reflected ray and refracted ray from a surface is .

At polarising angle, the angle between the reflected ray and refracted ray from a surface _____ degree.

Suppose transmitted light waves coming from the analyser. SO, when will the coming waves changes?

In what direction we can move the analyser in an experiment?

In the experiment of the polarisation, where do we have to put analyser?

If my polariser's polarising angle is then for what incident angle will I get reflected light partially polarised?

Unpolarized light of intensity passes through an ideal polariser . Another identical polariser is placed behind . The intensity of light beyond is found to be . Now another identical polariser is placed between and . The intensity beyond is now found to be . The angle between polariser and is

Two polaroids are oriented with their principal planes making an angle of . The percentage of incident unpolarized light which does not pass through the system is

An unpolarized light beam is incident on the polarizer of a polarization experiment and the intensity of light beam emerging from the analyzer is measured as 100 Lumens. Now, if the analyzer is rotated around the horizontal axis (direction of light) by in clockwise direction, the intensity of emerging light will be Lumens.
