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<ol class="chapter"><li><a href="../polsim.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.</strong> polsim</a></li><li><a href="../installation.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.</strong> Installation</a></li><li><a href="../usage.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.</strong> Usage</a></li><li><a href="../simulations.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.</strong> Simulations</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="../format.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.1.</strong> File Format</a></li><li><a href="../beams.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.2.</strong> Beams</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="../beams/linear.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.2.1.</strong> Linearly Polarized</a></li><li><a href="../beams/circular.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.2.2.</strong> Circularly Polarized</a></li><li><a href="../beams/elliptical.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.2.3.</strong> Elliptically Polarized</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="../elements.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.</strong> Elements</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="../elements/polarizer.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.1.</strong> Polarizer</a></li><li><a href="../elements/rotator.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.2.</strong> Rotator</a></li><li><a href="../elements/retarder.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.3.</strong> Retarder</a></li><li><a href="../elements/qwp.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.4.</strong> Quarter-Wave Plate</a></li><li><a href="../elements/hwp.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.5.</strong> Half-Wave Plate</a></li></ol></li></ol></li><li><a href="../examples.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.</strong> Examples</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="../examples/one_polarizer.html" class="active"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.</strong> One Polarizer</a></li><li><a href="../examples/crossed_polarizers.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.2.</strong> Crossed Polarizers</a></li><li><a href="../examples/circular_polarizer.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.3.</strong> Circular Polarizer</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="../reference.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.</strong> Quick Reference</a></li><li><a href="../conventions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.</strong> Conventions</a></li></ol>
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<h1 class="menu-title">polsim Documentation</h1>
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<main>
<a class="header" href="#one-polarizer" id="one-polarizer"><h1>One Polarizer</h1></a>
<p>Let's say I have a linearly polarized beam with vertical polarization. I want to pass that polarization through a polarizer oriented at 45 degrees. Here's what that looks like:</p>
<pre><code class="language-toml">[beam]
polarization = "linear"
angle = 90
angle_units = "degrees"
[[elements]]
element_type = "polarizer"
angle = 45
angle_units = "degrees"
</code></pre>
<p>Here's what the output looks like:</p>
<pre><code>$ polsim one_polarizer.toml
intensity: 5.00000e-1
x_mag: 5.00000e-1
x_phase: 0.00000e0
y_mag: 5.00000e-1
y_phase: 0.00000e0
</code></pre>
<p>You can see that the intensity is 0.5, which is half of the original intensity since all beams start with an intensity of 1. We can verify that this is correct using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizer#Malus's_law_and_other_properties">Malus's Law</a>. Malus's Law says that a beam's intensity after it passes through a polarizer depends on the angle between them:</p>
<p>\( I = I_0 \cos^{2}\left(\theta\right)\)</p>
<p>Since the angle between the polarizer and the beam's polarization is 45 degrees, \( I = 0.5 I_0 \).</p>
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