Polarization

Light propagates towards the direction of the electric field which fluctuates randomly in time. Resulting from these random vibrations is the unpolarized light. Many common light sources such as sunlight, light bulbs, LED spotlights, produce unpolarized light. If the direction of the electric field of light is well defined, it is called polarized light. The most common source of polarized light is a laser. The process of converting an unpolarized light to polarized, is called polarization.

A simple way to achieve polarization is linear polarization. Linear polarization is possible when the electric field of light is confined to a single plane along the direction of propagation.

Figure: A schematic view of the linear polarization.