polariseringsgraden

Polariseringsgraden, often translated as the degree of polarization, is a measure used in optics and wave physics to quantify how polarized a light beam is. It describes the extent to which the electric field oscillations of light are confined to a particular direction or plane. Unpolarized light has electric field oscillations occurring randomly in all directions perpendicular to the direction of propagation. Linearly polarized light has its electric field oscillations restricted to a single plane.

The degree of polarization, denoted by P, is a dimensionless quantity ranging from 0 to 1 (or 0% to 100%). A degree of polarization of 0 indicates completely unpolarized light. A degree of polarization of 1 signifies completely linearly polarized light. Values between 0 and 1 represent partially polarized light, which is a mixture of polarized and unpolarized components.

Mathematically, the degree of polarization can be defined based on the intensities of the polarized and unpolarized portions of the light. If I_p is the intensity of the polarized component and I_u is the intensity of the unpolarized component, then P = I_p / (I_p + I_u). Alternatively, it can be expressed in terms of the maximum and minimum intensities observed when rotating a polarizer through the light beam. If I_max is the maximum intensity and I_min is the minimum intensity, then P = (I_max - I_min) / (I_max + I_min). This parameter is crucial in various applications, including the design of optical instruments, sunglasses, and in the analysis of light scattering phenomena.