Malus’s Law
Malus’s law with a background: the intensity of light transmitted through two polarizers against the angle between them. Use it for polarization experiments with a rotating analyzer.
Parameters
- Background: the transmitted intensity at the minimum, for positive A.
- Amplitude: maximum minus minimum intensity.
- Angle of maximum transmission, in radians.
Tips
- Enter angles in radians: multiply degrees by π/180.
- The pattern repeats every π radians (180°), so φ is determined only up to a multiple of π.
- Measure over at least half a turn, so the data include both the maximum and the minimum.