Elliptical polarization: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:37, 7 February 2010

Revision as of 02:21, 10 September 2010

Line 1:

{{technicalTechnical|date=February 2010}}

In [[electrodynamics]], '''elliptical polarization''' is the [[Polarization (waves)|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. Since the electric field can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise as it propagates, elliptically polarized waves exhibit [[chirality (physics)|chirality]].

Line 9:

==Mathematical description of elliptical polarization==

The [[Classical physics|classical]] [[sinusoidal]] plane wave solution of the [[electromagnetic wave equation]] for the [[Electric field|electric]] and [[Magnetic field|magnetic]] fields is ([[Centimeter gram second system of units|cgs units]])

:<math> \mathbf{E} ( \mathbf{r} , t ) = \mid \mathbf{E} \mid \mathrm{Re} \left \{ |\psi\rangle \exp \left [ i \left ( kz-\omega t \right ) \right ] \right \} </math>

:<math> \mathbf{B} ( \mathbf{r} , t ) = \hat { \mathbf{z} } \times \mathbf{E} ( \mathbf{r} , t ) </math>

for the magnetic field, where k is the [[wavenumber]],

:<math> \omega_{ }^{ } = c k</math>

is the [[angular frequency]] of the wave, and <math> c </math> is the [[speed of light]].

Here <math>\mid \mathbf{E} \mid</math> is the [[amplitude]] of the field and

Line 32:

*{{FS1037C MS188}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliptical Polarization}}

[[Category:Polarization]]