wave plates for production of different type of polarized light ,Quarter plate, Half plate , Full plate
From previous experience we found out that different phase difference produces different polarized light . Let a plane polarized light is incident on a birefringent material. As the O-ray and E-ray Emerge out of the crystal . They have some path difference between them as different refractive index is produces different path difference. Let us consider that No and Ne is different refractive index for O-ray and E-ray respectively . Then the path them become . path for O-ray=No×t path for E-ray=Ne×t Where t is the thickness of the material So the path difference become . path-diff = path of O-ray - path of E-ray => Path-diff=(No-Ne)×t Then the difference must be equal to Phase-dif= (2π/(wavelength))×path_diff Quarter plate The plate in which path difference is 1/4th of wave length we call that quarter wave plate as the suggest quarter mean 4. path-diff = wavelength/4 ==> phase difference= (2π/(wavelength))×path-diff phase-dif=π/2 Also we have