Introduction to Optics
Including the tools and methods currently used by researchers and engineers, this book covers the essential concepts of comprehension and reports the great progress of the current knowledge in optics.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to Optics
Annex 5.C: Interference Using Polarized Light Beams. Wave Plates
5.C.1 Orthogonally Polarized Beams Are Unable to Interfere
Let us first consider two scalar signals, ( S 1, S 2), with sinusoidal time variations of the same frequency ?, let ( A 1, A 2) and ( I 1, I 2), respectively, be their amplitudes and intensities. The two signals are considered to interfere if the response of a detector, receiving them simultaneously, is not equal to the addition of the responses obtained for separate receptions, but depends on their phase difference. More accurately, we can write
The superposition of the two signals is written as
The corresponding intensity is
The last term of (5.C.1) describes the interference phenomenon.
Instead of scalar signals let us now consider vector signals V 1 and V 2
The intensity corresponding to the superposition of the two signals V 1 and V 2 is given by
If the two vectors A 1 and A 2 are parallel, formulas (5.C.1) and (5.C.2) are identical, but if they are orthogonal, their scalar product is equal to zero and the interference term disappears: I = I 1 + I 2. Two orthogonal vector signals cannot interfere.
A Polarizer Allows the Interference of Two Orthogonal Vector Vibrations
Two polarized light beams, having any initial polarization, after having been transmitted by a polarizer, are parallel to the direction of the polarizer and are thus able to interfere. In Figure 5.C.1 have been...
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