Question

Why polarized of light changes when reflected?

Answer 1

Refraction occurs when a beam of lightpasses from one material into another material. At the surface of the two materials, the path of the beam changesits direction. The refracted beam acquires some degree of polarization. Most often, the polarization occurs in a plane perpendicular to the surface

Answer 2

Hello,I'm trying to understand how exactly light changes its polarization when reflected from a mirror, for example.I'm quite familiar with Fresnel's equations and resulting coefficients, but I'm not sure how the phase of the TE and TM polarizations changes upon reflection.For example, let's say I have a mirror standing in the YZ plane, and I'm firing a laser towards the mirror with a k-vector thatlies in the XY plane, and makes a small angle with the normal to the mirror.If the beam is originally linearly polarized thus / when looking towards the mirror (let's say 45 degrees with the Z axis), how will it be polarized after the reflection? Looking away from the mirror, would it be / still, orwould it be transformed into \? (due to a phase change of the TM polarization)