Polarization Filters Video Lessons

Concept

# Problem: Plane-polarized light is incident on a single polarizing disk, with the direction of E0 parallel to the direction of the transmission axis. Through what angle should the disk be rotated so that the intensity in the transmitted beam is reduced by a factor of each of the following?(a) 2.20°(b) 5.20°(c) 12.0°

###### FREE Expert Solution

From Malus' law:

$\overline{){\mathbf{I}}{\mathbf{=}}{{\mathbf{I}}}_{{\mathbf{0}}}{\mathbf{c}}{\mathbf{o}}{{\mathbf{s}}}^{{\mathbf{2}}}{\mathbf{\theta }}}$

The fraction of the intensity of light that is transmitted is then expressed as:

I/I0 = cos2θ

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###### Problem Details

Plane-polarized light is incident on a single polarizing disk, with the direction of E0 parallel to the direction of the transmission axis. Through what angle should the disk be rotated so that the intensity in the transmitted beam is reduced by a factor of each of the following?

(a) 2.20°
(b) 5.20°
(c) 12.0°