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Concept
Circular polarization
Summary
In electrodynamics, circular polarization of an electromagnetic wave is a polarization state in which, at each point, the electromagnetic field of the wave has a constant magnitude and is rotating at a constant rate in a plane perpendicular to the direction of the wave.
In electrodynamics, the strength and direction of an electric field is defined by its electric field vector. In the case of a circularly polarized wave, the tip of the electric field vector, at a given point in space, relates to the phase of the light as it travels through time and space. At any instant of time, the electric field vector of the wave indicates a point on a helix oriented along the direction of propagation. A circularly polarized wave can rotate in one of two possible senses: clockwise or right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) in which the electric field vector rotates in a right-hand sense with respect to the direction of propagation, and counter-clockwise or left-handed circular polarization (LHCP) in which the vector rotates in a left-hand sense.
Circular polarization is a limiting case of elliptical polarization. The other special case is the easier-to-understand linear polarization. All three terms were coined by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in a memoir read to the French Academy of Sciences on 9 December 1822. Fresnel had first described the case of circular polarization, without yet naming it, in 1821.
The phenomenon of polarization arises as a consequence of the fact that light behaves as a two-dimensional transverse wave.
Circular polarization occurs when the two orthogonal electric field component vectors are of equal magnitude and are out of phase by exactly 90°, or one-quarter wavelength.
In a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave, the individual electric field vectors, as well as their combined vector, have a constant magnitude, and with changing phase angle. Given that this is a plane wave, each vector represents the magnitude and direction of the electric field for an entire plane that is perpendicular to the optical axis.
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