What is the relationship between the Faraday Effect and polarization in light?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the relationship between the Faraday Effect and light polarization, specifically how a linearly-polarized beam can be viewed as a combination of right- and left-circularly polarized beams. The user questions whether these circular polarizations are indeed at 180 degrees to each other, leading to a net effect of zero along the axes for linear polarization. They provide a Matlab code snippet demonstrating their understanding of the concept through graphical representation. The user seeks clarification on their interpretation of the Faraday Effect and its relation to polarization. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding the underlying physics of light polarization in relation to the Faraday Effect.
JasonGodbout
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Homework Statement


I ave a research to do on Faraday effect.
I found an explanation were they said that a linearly-polarized beam of light may be considered as the superposition of equal amounts of right- and left-circularly polarized beams. The right- and left-circularly polarized beams or pi/2 and -pi/2 right?
If I'm right they are at 180 degree of each other and it give 0 as along the axes not a linear polarized wave.

I used Matlab:
t = 0:pi/50:4*pi;
X1 = cos(t-pi/2)
Y1 = sin(t-pi/2)
X2 = cos(t+pi/2)
Y2 = sin(t+pi/2)
X3 = X1+X2
Y3 = Y1+Y2
plot3(t,X1,Y1,t,X2,Y2,t,X3,Y3)
grid on
axis square

Homework Equations


Is it the explanation or my interpretation and if its me what is the correct way?
 
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It looks fine to me! ;)
 
I solve the problem with my teacher and its working.

Thanks
 
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