Polarization describes the direction of light’s oscillation.

Only transverse waves can be polarized. For light, the oscillating electric field is perpendicular to the direction of propagation.

• What “transverse” means
• Electric field direction and propagation
• Why longitudinal waves cannot polarize
• Natural light as mixed polarizations

A polarizer transmits only the component of the electric field along its transmission axis. Two polarizers can dramatically reduce intensity depending on their relative angle.

• Transmission axis idea
• Unpolarized → polarized after first polarizer
• Crossed polarizers intuition
• Real polarizers vs ideal (intro)

Malus’ law gives the transmitted intensity through a polarizer as a function of the angle between the light’s polarization direction and the polarizer axis.

• Angle definition and what it compares
• Intensity vs field component connection
• Predicting special cases (0°, 90°)
• Common setup errors

Polarization is used to reduce glare, reveal stress patterns, and control light in displays and optical systems. Applications rely on selecting or manipulating polarization states.

• Glare reduction and reflections (intro)
• Polarized sunglasses and why they work
• LCD display idea (conceptual)
• Stress patterns and polariscopes (preview)

Practice interpreting polarization setups, applying Malus’ law, and explaining how applications work at a conceptual level.

• Polarizer angle and intensity drills
• Unpolarized vs polarized reasoning
• Crossed polarizer concept checks
• Malus’ law multi-step problems
• Exam-style polarization questions