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Er, I am fairly sure that polarizer example doesn't work, and still no light gets through, as polarizers don't rotate the light, but simply cut off components t
by dognotdog 11y ago
Er, I am fairly sure that polarizer example doesn't work, and still no light gets through, as polarizers don't rotate the light, but simply cut off components that are orthogonal to the polarization direction. So stacking slightly rotated filters through to 90 degress would still leave you with no light.
EDIT: On second thought, it might just be you wording making it seem weird. The analogy works if you don't look at the whole stack, but the after adding each polarizer. Still, the same effect is had as simply gradually rotating the 2nd polarizer.
- Strilanc 11y agoYou're one of the lucky ten thousand today. [1] Following a vertical polarizer with a horizontal polarizer will block all light. But putting a diagonal polarizer in between will result in some of the light getting through. You can find videos and explanations of this effect on youtube [2] [3]. 1: https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/ 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm2LCsM_S5o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm2LCsM_S5o 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM2TkM0hzW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM2TkM0hzW8
- dognotdog 11y agoHah, nice! Looking at it now, of course it makes sense. I guess I just short-circuited by thinking of the polarizer as blocking light only, and not that the reduction in intensity is the result of the projection of the previous wave direction onto the new wave plane! EDIT: not that this makes the quantum effects any clearer ;)