Avoid Optical Pitfalls Part 4: Ignoring Optical Polarization
How much does polarization matter? More than you’d think. Ignoring optical polarization is an optical pitfall that can lead to dozens of imaging problems, so be sure to take it into account when planning. Polarization matters, and ignoring optical polarization could lead to images that do not have the quality you would expect.
In this article, part of a series on optical pitfalls and how to avoid them, we’ll look at this common problem and examine just what issues it can lead to. Although there are some optical systems which are essentially blind to polarization, there are many others in which it can cause potentially unexpected side effects.
Ignoring optical polarization can lead to both degraded image quality and degraded functionality in many different optical applications. Ignoring polarity is especially problematic when you’re working with lasers and certain optical materials, and we’ll t also take a deeper look at why. First, though, just what is polarization?