Re: p- and s-polarization question

in article [EMAIL PROTECTED], tzavalas at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 11/4/03 4:24 AM:

> I'm pretty mixed up as it concerns p- ans s- polarized light.
> 
> I always thought that if you have e.g. a stretched film with dipoles
> oriented at -let's say- y-axis then the planar polalised light which
> is parralel to the dipoles or y axis is the p- and the one vertical to
> y is s-polarized light.

Yep. You are pretty mixed up. To get unmixed:

1.  Forget everythin you think you know about p and s polarization.
2.  Consider the plane of incidence of a ray hitting a surface. This plane
is the one defined by th normal to the surface and the incident ray.
3.  There are two possible pure linear polarization states (eigenstates)
such a ray can have. The E field (vibration) can be parallel to the plane of
incidence or it can be perpendicular to the plane of incidence.
4.  The former is called p polarization. The latter is called s
polarization. The *s* comes from the German word for perpendicular,
senkrecht.
5   If you have any questions at this point, you either don't understand me
or you did not follow instructions to forget what you knew about p and s.

Bill