- #36
kith
Science Advisor
- 1,437
- 535
No, it wasn't. This can be seen easily if you use a third polarizer at 90° to the first to analyze your wave. The first polarizer filters out all parts of the wave which could pass the third. So if the second would just filter out more parts of the wave, there would still be no transmission through the third polarizer. Actually, there is a transmission, so the second polarizer has created new parts of the wave.mr. vodka said:Okay as I seem to be ignored trying to explain it nicely, I'll be blunt: you're wrong. Say system S is a construction of two polarizers at different angle, then S is a filter because whatever comes out was already part of the original wave, there's just something left out.
I'm not sure if this is a satisfying answer to your question, but like every measurement device, its a big system which can be treated classically. Similar to a Stern-Gerlach-Apparatu for measurements of the spin of the electron.mr. vodka said:How does a polarizer actually work on a QM-level? I can't figure out what it does to one photon. What is the measuring aparatus?