jfizzix said:Depending on the orientation of the quarter wave plate, it will rotate the polarization of the light passing through that slit from linear, to circular, and back to linear as the plate is rotated. At all points, the light passing through that slit will have a significant component of linear polarization along the same direction--- anywhere between 100 percent and 50 percent.
What you will see on the screen as you rotate the 1/4 waveplate, is that it will change from a perfect slit interference pattern to a 50/50 mixture of the slit interference pattern and the diffraction pattern, and back again to perfect slit interference.
Marco Masi said:Ok, this may make sense... but I still don't get it why a polarization change induces a diffraction pattern. As far as I understand the double slit experiment, as any interference phenomenon in general, it is only the phase difference on the detection screen between the two light beams coming from the two slits which determine the diffraction and interference pattern. Here, of course, the rotation of the polarizer at 100 percent determines also ##\lambda##/4 phase shift. But I think of it as resulting in a spatial shift of the interference fringes, not an overlap between the diffraction envelope and the fringes. What am I missing here?
A double slit with a quarter wave polarizer on one slit is an experimental setup used in optics to demonstrate the principles of polarization. It consists of two narrow slits placed close together, with a quarter wave plate placed in front of one of the slits. Light passing through the quarter wave plate becomes circularly polarized, while light passing through the other slit remains unpolarized.
The quarter wave polarizer on one slit in the double slit experiment causes the light passing through it to become circularly polarized. This means that the electric field of the light wave rotates in a circular motion as it travels through the polarizer. This changes the interference pattern observed on the screen behind the slits, as the circularly polarized light interacts differently with the other unpolarized light passing through the other slit.
The use of a quarter wave polarizer in the double slit experiment allows for the demonstration of the principles of polarization and how it affects the interference pattern. It also allows for the study of how changing the polarization of light can alter the interference pattern, providing insight into the wave nature of light.
When the polarizer in the double slit experiment is rotated, the orientation of the circularly polarized light passing through it changes. This results in a change in the interference pattern observed on the screen, as the polarized light now interacts differently with the unpolarized light from the other slit. This change in the interference pattern can be used to study the properties of polarized light.
Yes, the double slit experiment with a quarter wave polarizer can be used to determine the polarization of light. By analyzing the interference pattern on the screen, one can determine the orientation of the circularly polarized light passing through the polarizer. This can then be used to determine the polarization of the incident light, as well as the properties of the quarter wave plate used in the setup.