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Mojomarkmark (talk | contribs) Clarifies elliptical polarization as being part of the helical polarization family, which does not include linear polarization. |
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In [[electrodynamics]], '''elliptical polarization''' is the [[polarization]] of [[electromagnetic radiation]] such that the tip of the [[electric field]] [[vector (geometry)|vector]] describes an [[ellipse]] in any fixed plane intersecting, and [[Surface normal|normal]] to, the direction of propagation. An elliptically polarized wave may be resolved into two [[linear polarization|linearly polarized wave]]s in [[Quadrature_phase|phase quadrature]] with their polarization planes at right angles to each other.
Elliptical polarization, along with another polarization type called [[circular polarization]], can be considered to be part of a broader category called helical polarization. Helical polarization encompasses all electromagnetic radiation in which the electric field vector describes a helical path (i.e. exhibits [[chirality (physics)|chirality]]). For classification purposes, because the electric field vector of [[linear polarization|linearly polarized]] electromagnetic radiation propogates in a plane, it does not exhibit chirality and therefore does not fall into the helical polarization family.
Other forms of polarization, such as [[circular polarization|circular]] and [[linear polarization]], can be considered to be special cases of elliptical polarization.▼
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[[Image: Elliptical_polarization_schematic.png|right|Elliptical polarization diagram]]
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