Polarization of laser light

Lasers play an important role in many modern devices,

from tiny laser pointers to CD-ROM’s to industrial lasers that
can drill precise holes in a sheet of steel. The power of a laser
beam depends on the material used to produce it, but its utility
derives from its ability to be focused into a narrow beam of
monochromatic light, or light that is all the same wavelength. In
order to understand the function of a Brewster window, it is
necessary to understand how lasers work.

How lasers work

All matter, whether a solid, a liquid or a gas, is

composed of atoms. Atoms consist of a nucleus, made up of
protons neutrons and a cloud of electrons that circle the
nucleus in orbits defined by their various energy levels.
Although the power of a laser beam depends on the energy
levels of these electrons in the atoms of the material used to
produce it, all lasers function on the same basic principle.

Figure.1 : constituent of atomic

 A beam of energy, usually light consisting of many
different wavelengths, like the beam of a flashlight only more
tightly focused, is used to excite the electrons to “jump” to a
higher energy level. If enough electrons are excited, the
material can reach a state called “inversion.” The excited
electrons can then be “stimulated” to drop back to their original
state by “emitting” a photon. This photon will exactly match the
photon that stimulated it in both wavelength and phase. These
photons can then stimulate more photons to be emitted. This
repeated process leads to an increase in the light output and is
the reason for the name “laser” – Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Generally speaking, the photons are collected in a tube

with a mirror at either end. As they “bounce” from end to end,
the number of photons (and the amount of energy) in the tube
increases to very high levels. The mirror at one end of the tube
reflects 100% of the photons that impact it. The mirror at the
other end, however, transmits a small fraction of the photons –
the actual laser beam – while reflecting the rest.
 Figure.2 : Pinciple of laser

Polarized light

Light is an electromagnetic wave, meaning that it has

both an electric component and a magnetic component. For
this discussion, we can ignore the magnetic part and just focus
on the electric portion.

This wave is much like a wave on the surface of the

water with peaks and valleys. The distance between the peaks
defines its wavelength. While a water wave oscillates only up
and down, the electric portion (called the electric vector) of the
light wave can be in any orientation, which may be horizontal,
vertical or anywhere in between. Monochromatic light is light of
the same wavelength (or color) but this says nothing about the
orientation of the electric vector. Polarized light, on the other
hand, consists of light waves all traveling in the same
orientation and is very useful in a number of applications, such
as microscopy, for example.
 Polarized light is the principle behind Polarized lenses.
When ordinary sunlight is reflected from water or from a solid
surface such as asphalt, for example, most of it is polarized in a
horizontal plane – meaning that the electric vector is oriented
horizontally. Polarized lenses, however, are designed to block
horizontally polarized light, thus eliminating annoying glare and
making the landscape appear darker than it would without the
polarized lenses.

The beam of light produced by a laser, while

monochromatic and highly focused, is not necessarily polarized.
The function of a Brewster window is to produce a laser beam
that is not only monochromatic but polarized as well. Here’s
how the process works.

Three types of polarization are possible.

- Plane Polarization

Linear polarization: the electric field of light is confined to a

single plane along the direction of propagation. (Figure 3)
Figure 3: The electric field of linearly polarized light is confined
to

a single plane along the direction of propagation.

- Circular Polarization

Circular polarization: the electric field of light consists of two

linear components that are perpendicular to each other,
equal in amplitude, but have a phase difference of π/2. The
resulting electric field rotates in a circle around the direction
of propagation and, depending on the rotation direction, is
called left- or right-hand circularly polarized light. (Figure 4)

Figure 4: The electric field of circularly polarized light

consists of two perpendicular, equal in amplitude, linear
components that have a phase of difference of π/2. The
resulting electric field describes a circle.
- Elliptical Polarization

Elliptical polarization: the electric field of light describes an

ellipse. This results from the combination of two linear
components with differing amplitudes and/or a phase
difference that is not π/2. This is the most general description
of polarized light, and circular and linear polarized light can
be viewed as special cases of elliptically polarized light.
(Figure 5)

Figure 5: The electric field of elliptically polarized light

consists of two perpendicular linear components with any
amplitude and any phase difference. The resulting

electric field describes an ellipse.

 Figure 6 : Three types of polarizatio

Brewster’s angle

When light encounters a boundary between two

different media – such as air and glass, for example – some of it
is refracted, or transmitted through the glass, while the rest is
reflected. The ratio of transmitted to reflected light is
dependent on the angle at which the light strikes the surface of
the glass and the orientation of the electric vector.

Figure 7. An illustration of the polarization of light

 Brewster’s angle (also known as the polarization angle)
is an angle of incidence at which light with a particular
polarization (called p-polarization) is perfectly transmitted
through a transparent dielectric (electrically nonconducting)
surface, with no reflection. When unpolarized light, whether
monochromatic or consisting of various wavelengths, is
incident at this angle, the light that is reflected from the surface
is therefore perfectly polarized (s-polarization). The s-
polarization has its electric vector perpendicular to the plane of
incidence while the p-polarization is parallel. This special angle
of incidence is named after the Scottish physicist Sir David
Brewster (1781–1868).

Explanation of Brewster’s angle

When light encounters a boundary between two media

with different refractive indices, some of it is usually reflected as
shown in the figure above. The fraction that is reflected is
described by the Fresnel equations, and is dependent upon the
incoming light's polarization and angle of incidence. The
Fresnel equations predict that light with the p polarization
(electric field polarized in the same plane as the incident ray
and the surface normal) will not be reflected if the angle of
incidence is
𝑛2
𝜃𝐵 = arctan⁡( )
𝑛1

Brewster’s angle is proportional to the index of

refraction (denoted by “n”) of the medium through which the
light is refracted divided by the index of refraction of the
medium through which it initially travelled. For a glass medium
(n ≈ 1.5) in air (n ≈ 1), Brewster’s angle for visible light is
approximately 56°, while for an air-water interface (n ≈ 1.33), it
is approximately 53°. Since the refractive index for a given
medium changes depending on the wavelength of light,
Brewster’s angle will also vary with wavelength which, in the
case of monochromatic laser light, is uniform.

By inserting a Brewster window into the path of a laser

beam in such a position that the laser light strikes it precisely at
Brewster’s angle, the laser beam can be configured to produce
exactly the polarized light required for a particular application.

Brewster Windows Function In Lasers

In gas lasers, it is common to put the end mirrors at

Brewster angle to the optic axis. The electromagnetic beam
traveling between the mirrors of the laser, is reflected many
times from these mirrors. Since the mirrors are at Brewster
angle, all the radiation that is polarized perpendicular to the
beam plane is emitted out of the laser cavity at early stage. In
the gas tube remains only radiation polarized in the beam
plane. The advantage of this arrangement is that the beam have
no reflection losses, since only the transmitted polarized beam
is traveling between the mirrors. The radiation out of these
lasers is polarized as can be seen in figure 8,9
 Figure 8. Brewster angle window at the end of gas laser

Figure 9. Zoom picture of Brewster angle window at the end of

gas laser.