News tagged with polarization
Four reasons why the quantum vacuum may explain dark matter
(PhysOrg.com) -- Earlier this year, PhysOrg reported on a new idea that suggested that gravitational charges in the quantum vacuum could provide an alternative to dark matter. The idea rests on the hypothesis that particles ...
Nov 28, 2011 |
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Invisibility carpet cloak can hide objects from visible light
(PhysOrg.com) -- Most of the invisibility cloaks that have been demonstrated to date conceal objects at frequencies that are not detectable by the human eye. Designing invisibility cloaks that can conceal ...
Jun 15, 2011 |
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Creating a six-qubit cluster state
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many scientists believe that quantum entanglement is required in order for effective quantum computing. Entanglement takes place when there is a connection that exists between two objects - even when they ...
Nov 02, 2009 |
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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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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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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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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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Metal nanoparticles shine with customizable color (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers at Harvard have demonstrated a new kind of tunable color filter that uses optical nanoantennas to obtain precise control of color output.
Feb 23, 2012 |
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Cuttlefish have high definition polarization vision, researchers discover
Cuttlefish have the most acute polarization vision yet found in any animal, researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered by showing them movies on a modified LCD computer screen to test their eyesight.
Feb 20, 2012 |
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Nanotube-based terahertz polarizer nears perfection
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Rice University are using carbon nanotubes as the critical component of a robust terahertz polarizer that could accelerate the development of new security and communication ...
Jan 30, 2012 |
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Twisted crystals point way toward active optical materials
(PhysOrg.com) -- A nanoscale game of "now you see it, now you don't" may contribute to the creation of metamaterials with useful optical properties that can be actively controlled, according to scientists ...
Sep 29, 2011 |
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New 'FeTRAM' is promising computer memory technology
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are developing a new type of computer memory that could be faster than the existing commercial memory and use far less power than flash memory devices.
Sep 27, 2011 |
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An electronic bucket brigade could boost solar cell voltages
If solar cells could generate higher voltages when sunlight falls on them, they'd produce more electrical power more efficiently. For over half a century scientists have known that ferroelectrics, materials ...
Sep 15, 2011 |
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Ferroelectrics could pave way for ultra-low power computing
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that it is possible to reduce the minimum voltage necessary to store charge in a capacitor, an achievement that could reduce the power draw and ...
Sep 12, 2011 |
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Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits ...
Aug 11, 2011 |
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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.
