Interactive Polarization Lab

See how light really behaves

Explore polarization through interactive simulations — from Malus's Law to scattered light polarimetry. Built for the curious, whether you're a student, engineer, or scientist.

Start exploring →View learning path

Topics

From fundamentals to advanced polarimetry

Linear Polarization

What happens when light oscillates in a single plane, and how polarizers select for it.

Fundamentals 02

Malus's Law

The cosine-squared relationship between polarizer angle and transmitted intensity.

Fundamentals 03

Circular & Elliptical Polarization

How quarter-wave plates transform linear polarization into rotating electric field vectors.

Wave Plates 04

Stokes Parameters

A complete mathematical description of any polarization state using four measurable quantities.

Measurement 05

Mueller Matrices

How optical elements transform polarization states — the linear algebra of light.

Measurement 06

Scattered Light Polarimetry

How scattering encodes information about particle size, shape, and composition into polarization.

Advanced

Simulation Preview

Interactive, not just illustrative

Malus's Law2D Interactive

Analyzerθ = 30°

Input Intensity1.00 I₀

Analyzer Angle30.0°

Transmitted0.75 I₀

Extinction0.25 I₀

I = I_0 \cos^2\theta

The transmitted intensity through a polarizer-analyzer pair follows a cosine-squared law. At θ = 0°, all light passes. At θ = 90°, extinction is complete.