Quartz is a uniaxial birefringent material with ordinary refractive index no = 1.5443 and extraordinary refractive index ne = 1.5534. It is desired to make a thin plate of quartz to convert incident plane-polarised light of wavelength λ0 = 633 nm into outgoing circular-polarised light. Define the terms ”birefringent” and ”uniaxial”; calculate the required minimum thickness of the plate; and state the required orientation of the no and ne axes relative to the plane of polarisation of the incident light.
Quartz is a uniaxial birefringent material with ordinary refractive index no = 1.5443 and extraordinary refractive index ne = 1.5534. It is desired to make a thin plate of quartz to convert incident plane-polarised light of wavelength λ0 = 633 nm into outgoing circular-polarised light. Define the terms ”birefringent” and ”uniaxial”; calculate the required minimum thickness of the plate; and state the required orientation of the no and ne axes relative to the plane of polarisation of the incident light.
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Quartz is a uniaxial birefringent material with ordinary refractive index no = 1.5443 and extraordinary refractive index ne = 1.5534. It is desired to make a thin plate of quartz to convert incident
plane-polarised light of wavelength λ0 = 633 nm into outgoing circular-polarised light.
Define the terms ”birefringent” and ”uniaxial”; calculate the required minimum thickness of the
plate; and state the required orientation of the no and ne axes relative to the plane of polarisation
of the incident light.
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