Physics > Wave Optics > 4.0 Polarisation
Wave Optics
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Wavefronts
1.2 Huygens Principle
1.3 Interference of light
1.4 Intensity distribution
1.5 Phase difference
2.0 Young's double slit experiment
3.0 Diffraction of light
4.0 Polarisation
4.1 Malu's law
1.2 Huygens Principle
1.3 Interference of light
1.4 Intensity distribution
1.5 Phase difference
According to Malu's law, when a beam of completely plane polarised is incident on an analyzer and the resultant intensity $(I)$ of light transmitted from the analyser varies directly as the square of the cosine of the angle $\left( \theta \right)$ between plane of transmission of analyser and polariser.
Mathematically it is given by, $$I \propto {\cos ^2}\theta $$ or $$I = {I_0}{\cos ^2}\theta $$
where,
$I_0$: Intensity of the plane polarised light
$I$: Intensity of light transmitted from the analyser
$\theta $: Angle between plane of transmission of analyser and polariser
