News tagged with polarization
Expedition studies acid impacts on Arctic
The effects of ocean acidification on Arctic seas will be studied by a team of 30 researchers, including Dr Toby Tyrrell from the University of Southampton, who set sail from the UK today (1 June), venturing ...
Jun 01, 2012 |
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Enceladus plume is a new kind of plasma laboratory
(Phys.org) -- Recent findings from NASA's Cassini mission reveal that Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus provides a special laboratory for watching unusual behavior of plasma, or hot ionized gas. In these recent ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 31, 2012 |
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Research group creates longer lived and more efficient quantum memory
(Phys.org) -- One of the main sticking points to creating a true quantum computer capable of performing meaningful work, is the problem of storing quantum state information in memory. Recent efforts have resulted in highly ...
May 30, 2012 |
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CryoSat goes to sea
CryoSat was launched in 2010 to measure sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, but data from the Earth-observing satellite have also been exploited for other studies. High-resolution mapping of the topography of the ocean floor ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 29, 2012 |
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Hinode witnesses solar eclipse
(Phys.org) -- Spectacular images from the Hinode spacecraft show the solar eclipse, which darkened the sky in parts of the Western United States and Southeast Asia yesterday.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 23, 2012 |
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A cell's first steps: Building a model to explain how cells grow
A collaboration between Lehigh University physicists and University of Miami biologists addresses an important fundamental question in basic cell biology: How do living cells figure out when and where to grow?
May 18, 2012 |
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An unlikely route to ferroelectricity
(Phys.org) -- Ferroelectricity, which was first observed in the 1940s, is an interesting phenomenon involving the spontaneous (non-induced) formation of charge polarization (separation of charge) in certain ...
May 18, 2012 |
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Central nervous system stem cells shed light on mechanism that controls asymmetrical division
Animals consist of many distinct cell types, all of which originate during development from a single cell: the fertilized egg. To generate this vast cellular diversity, the egg and its descendants must divide ...
May 18, 2012 |
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Antarctic waters changing due to climate: study
The densest waters of Antarctica have reduced dramatically over recent decades, in part due to man-made impacts on the climate, Australian scientists said Friday.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 04, 2012 |
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New study suggests polar bears evolved earlier than previously thought
(Phys.org) -- A new genetic analysis carried out by and international team of scientists has revealed that polar bears and brown bears may have diverged around 600,000 years ago, which is much earlier than ...
Apr 20, 2012 |
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First proof of ferroelectricity in simplest amino acid
The boundary between electronics and biology is blurring with the first detection by researchers at Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory of ferroelectric properties in an amino acid called ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Apr 19, 2012 |
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Cassini to dip into Enceladus spray again
(Phys.org) -- Less than three weeks after its last visit to the Saturnian moon Enceladus, NASA's Cassini spacecraft returns for an encore. At closest approach on April 14, the spacecraft will be just as low ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 16, 2012 |
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Polarized X-ray scattering technique reveals structure of printable electronics
(Phys.org) -- An innovative X-ray technique has given North Carolina State University researchers and their collaborators new insight into how organic polymers can be used in printable electronics such as transistors and ...
Apr 15, 2012 |
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Ferroelectric oxides do the twist
(Phys.org) -- Some materials, by their nature, do what we want them to do -- notably, the ubiquitous, semiconducting silicon found in almost every electronic device. But sometimes, naturally occurring materials ...
Apr 12, 2012 |
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Fur loss, lesions reported in Beaufort Sea polar bears
Research scientists working for the U.S. Geological Survey report that some Alaska polar bears are losing their fur.
Apr 10, 2012 |
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Polarization
Polarization (also polarisation) is a property of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. This article primarily covers the polarization of electromagnetic waves such as light, although other types of wave also exhibit polarization.
By convention, the polarization of light is described by specifying the direction of the wave's electric field. When light travels in free space, in most cases it propagates as a transverse wave—the polarization is perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel. In this case, the electric field may be oriented in a single direction (linear polarization), or it may rotate as the wave travels (circular or elliptical polarization). In the latter cases, the oscillations can rotate rightward or leftward in the direction of travel, and which of those two rotations is present in a wave is called the wave's chirality or handedness. In general the polarization of an electromagnetic (EM) wave is a complex issue. For instance in a waveguide such as an optical fiber, or for radially polarized beams in free space, the description of the wave's polarization is more complicated, as the fields can have longitudinal as well as transverse components. Such EM waves are either TM or hybrid modes.
For longitudinal waves such as sound waves in fluids, the direction of oscillation is by definition along the direction of travel, so there is no polarization. In a solid medium, however, sound waves can be transverse. In this case, the polarization is associated with the direction of the shear stress in the plane perpendicular to the propagation direction. This is important in seismology.
Polarization is significant in areas of science and technology dealing with wave propagation, such as optics, seismology, telecommunications and radar science. The polarization of light can be measured with a polarimeter.
For more information about Polarization, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
