- #1
Niles
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Homework Statement
Hi
This isn't homework, but something I've wondered about. I post it here, because it might be helpful to others. Say I am looking at the attached optical system:
I have polarized light in the plane. Then it hits a lambda/4-plate, where the angle between the fast axis and the polarization of the light is denoted Ω. The light then gets reflected on a mirror, and moves through the quarter wave-plate again.
If Ω=0 degrees, light will just go back the same way it came with the same polarization.
If Ω=45 degree, light becomes circularly polarized after the wave-plate, changes rotation direction after the reflection and becomes linearly polarized again. In total a phase change of 360 degrees (180 from the reflection and 180 from passing through the waveplate twice). So this is the same as the case with Ω=0? This doesn't make sense to me.
Can anyone point out where my reasoning is wrong?
Niles.