- #1
clougb
- 4
- 0
Hi everyone, I am a little bit confused on a concept relating to optics. If we have an interferometer (lets say a Sagnac interferometer) after the two beams traverse equal paths and recombine, the S and P polarizations are in phase but orthogonal. Does this mean that the light is essentially a linear polarization with an angle of 45 degrees (assuming the magnitude of each polarization component is equal). I understand by lagging one component of either polarization we get elliptical polarization or circular in the event that you lag one component by pi/2, but I do not understand how 2 beams with the same phase and orthogonal polarizations can interfere (it is said to be done with a linear polarizer).
Thanks for your help!
-Ben
Thanks for your help!
-Ben