Polarization of light Assignment
Precalculus Mrs. Whitehurst
Objective: To find a mathematical express to describe the intensity of
polarized light as a function of the angle between the electric field
orientation of polarized light and the analyzer.
Experiment: Web virtual experiment, whereby unpolarized light from the
Sun will pass through a polarized, which selects the orientation of the
electric field and then passing through an analyzer were the intensity of light
will be measured at different angles.
http://web.njit.edu/c2prism/so26/flash.html
Tip: record data for at least 10 different evenly spaced angles, making sure
to note the angle of the polarizer, analyzer and the intensity of light.
Data acquisition: Input the angles and intensity into an excel spread sheet.
Tips: Create a spread sheet with four columns and label accordingly.
Plot Intensity vs. θ i.e. the angle between polarizer and analyzer.
“Data points” are just that points not lines.
Fitting: Fit the data to three mathematical functions: linear y=mx+b,
exponential y=Aexp(-kx), and cosine y=Acos(x)
Tips: Add 3 more columns one for each function, label and plot as a solid
line.
y=intensity
x=θ (Analyzer - polarizer)
A=Initial intensity, which is a constant.
m=slope, which is a constant.
k=decay rate, which is a constant.
Obtain the best fits to data for each function by varying the constants
and record the values on paper.
Results & Conclusion: State our findings and the mathematical expression
which models the angular dependence of the intensity of polarized light.
Tips: State each fitting function with best fit values for the constants and
describe why each is either a good or bad fit to the data and state what the
mathematical express is that describes the intensity of polarized light as a
function of the angle.