https://physlab-wiki.com/ 2026-04-19T18:38:27+00:00 https://physlab-wiki.com/ https://physlab-wiki.com/lib/tpl/UChicago/images/favicon.ico text/html 2026-04-17T16:02:25+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://physlab-wiki.com/phylabs/lab_courses/phys-120_130-wiki-home/spring-experiments/new_polarization?rev=1776456145&do=diff Polarization of Light: Malus' law An ordinary light source consists of a very large number of randomly oriented atoms which emit light. The emitted light is only polarized for a short period of about $10^{-8}$ sec. Over longer times, the polarization changes randomly in time at such a rate as to render individual polarization states indiscernible. Thus, we say that such a light source is $\begin{equation} I = I_0\cos^2\varphi \end{equation}$\varphi$$I_0$$\varphi$$\varphi$$y$$x$$\eqref{eq:Malus}…