The Polarization of Light and Malus’ Law Using Smartphones

Abstract

Originally an empirical law, nowadays Malus’ law is seen as a key experiment to demonstrate the transverse nature of electromagnetic waves, as well as the intrinsic connection between optics and electromagnetism. In this work, a simple and inexpensive setup is proposed to quantitatively verify the nature of polarized light. A flat computer screen serves as a source of linear polarized light and a smartphone (possessing ambient light and orientation sensors) is used, thanks to its built-in sensors, to experiment with polarized light and verify Malus’ law.

Full text

The polarization of light and
the Malus’ law using smartphones
Martín Monteiro(a), Cecilia Stari(b), Cecilia Cabeza(c), Arturo C. Marti(d),
(a) Universidad ORT Uruguay; monteiro@ort.edu.uy
(b) Universidad de la República, Uruguay, cstari@fing.edu.uy
(c) Universidad de la República, Uruguay, cecilia@fisica.edu.uy
(c) Universidad de la República, Uruguay, marti@fisica.edu.uy
Originally an empirical law, nowadays Malus' law is seen as a key experiment to demonstrate
the transverse nature of electromagnetic waves, as well as the intrinsic connection between optics
and electromagnetism. In this work, a simple and inexpensive setup is proposed to quantitatively
verify the nature of polarized light. A flat computer screen serves as a source of linear polarized
light and a smartphone (possessing ambient light and orientation sensors) is used, thanks to its built-
in sensors, to experiment with polarized light and verify the Malus’ law.
Smartphone-based experiments and optics
In the last years, a great deal of smartphone-based experiments have been proposed in
physics. Remarkably, experiments focusing on light and optics, and specially those using the
ambient light sensor1-2, have received little attention compared to those focusing on mechanics,
oscillations or magnetism. Two exceptions are worth mentioning. In Ref.1, the authors proposed a
simple verification of the inverse square law using the light sensor of a smartphone or a tablet. In a
different approach2, the ambient light sensor has been proposed to indirectly measure distances and
to analyze coupled springs undergoing oscillatory motions. Here, we focus on an experiment using
the ambient light sensor which involves the polarization of light3-9 and, in particular, the Malus’ law.
Smartphones also gives us the ability to measure simultaneously with various sensors. This is
also a great advantage since it allows to perform a great variety of experiments, even outdoors,
avoiding the dependence on fragile or unavailable instruments. In previous works, the simultaneous
use of two sensors like the gyroscope and the accelerometer was proposed to relate angular velocity,
rotational energy, centripetal and tangential acceleration10-12. In another experiment, the pressure
sensor and the GPS were used in synchrony to find the relationship between atmospheric pressure
and altitude13.
In this work, we propose an experiment in which we take advantage of the capabilities of a
smartphone to verify the Malus' law. The intensity of polarized light from a computer monitor is
measured by means of the ambient light sensor with a tiny polarizer attached to it while the angle
between the polarization and the polarizer is measured by means of the orientation sensor. The
simultaneous use of these two sensors allows us to simplify the experimental setup and complete a
set of measures in just a few minutes. The experimental results of the light intensity as a function of
the angle shows an excellent agreement with Malus’ law.
Polarized light
Light, as any other electromagnetic wave, nearly always propagates as a transverse wave,
with both electric and magnetic fields oscillating perpendicularly to the direction of propagation

(see a standard general physics textbook). The direction of the electric field is called the
polarization of the wave. In a linearly polarized plane wave the electric field remains in the same
direction. This pure state of polarization is called linear polarization. Natural light, (e.g., light
radiated by an incandescent object) as a random mixture of waves with different polarizations, is
unpolarized light, or more precisely, random polarized light.
According to the Poynting theorem, the energy flow (intensity of the light or illuminance, I)
associated to plane electromagnetic waves is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the
electric field. When light interacts with matter its behavior is modified, mainly its intensity and its
velocity. Moreover, some materials are able to modify light differently in each spatial direction.
This is the case for instance of linear polarizers that can convert unpolarized light into linear
polarized light. An ideal polarizer fully attenuates light polarized in one direction, and fully
transmits light with the orthogonal polarization.
Consider a beam of linear polarized light incident over a polarizer. The amplitude of the
electric before the polarizer is
E0
and its intensity is
I0∼E0
2
. Let θ be the angle between the
axis of the polarizer and the polarization of the incident light. The electric field that passes through
the polarizer is the component in the direction of the axis,
E=E0cos θ
. Therefore, the intensity
of the light passing the polarizer is
I=I0cos2θ.
(1)
This is the so called Malus' law, named after the French physicist Étienne-Louis Malus, who
discovered optical polarization in 1808.
The experiment
In this experiment, a source of polarized light, a polarizer, a photometer and a way to measure
angles are needed. The source of linear polarized light is a flat computer monitor (or LCD TV
screen) in plain white color4-6. The ambient light sensor, located near the front camera (Fig. 1), and
the orientation sensor of a LG-G3 smartphone are used to measure the illuminance and the angles
respectively. A small piece of polarizer (a square of about 1 cm side) from an old calculator's
display was placed over the ambient light sensor as shown in the central panel of Fig. 1.
The ambient light sensor works as a photometer and measures the illuminance, i.e., the total
luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area whose unit is the lux. However, in the Malus’ law,
the relevant variable is the irradiance (or light intensity, i.e., the total power received per unit area
perpendicular to the direction of propagation, measured in W/m2)14. The illuminance, contrarily to
the irradiance, considers the fact that human eyes' are more sensitive to some wavelengths than
others, and, consequently every wavelength is weighted differently. In our experimental setup, since
the spectrum of the light source does not change, the irradiance is proportional to the illuminance.
The angle between the polarized light from the screen and the polarizer attached to the
smartphone is obtained using the smartphone’s orientation pseudo-sensor15. This sensor provides the
three necessary angles to determine the orientation of the smartphone: pitch, roll and azimuth. In
particular, the pitch is the angle between the horizontal direction and the y-axis of the smartphone.
The app Physics Toolbox16 is used to register simultaneously the illuminance and the angle.
This app has an option, Multi report, in which we can choose the sensors that we are going to use.
In this case we checked the boxes of light and orientation sensors. With the app started, the
smartphone with the polarizer is placed in front of the monitor in upright position as indicated in
Fig. 1 (right panel). Note that, the distance does not change and the light intensity is constant.

One important aspect of the experimental setup is that the smartphone pitch-angle be
coincident with the angle between the polarization and the polarizer (Fig. 2, right panel). To do so,
the experiment starts by placing the smartphone upright in front of the screen so that the pitch angle
is -90º. Next, keeping the smartphone still, the polarizer is rotated looking for a minimum in the
light intensity. When this position is found, the polarizer is fastened with a tiny piece of tape over
the light sensor. As a result, the axis of the polarizer is perpendicular to the polarization of the light
from the screen, as indicated in Fig. 2 (left panel).
Afterward, we start collecting data with the app and the smartphone is gently rotated in front
of the screen completing at least a quarter of revolution. Note that, due to the symmetry of the
Malus’ law, collecting data corresponding to a more large range will produce a repetition of the
values. Once the data is recorded, the Physics Toolbox app saves a csv file that can be downloaded
to a PC or tablet and analyzed using appropriate software. csv files, composed of several columns
(displaying the variables from the sensors chosen) separated by a comma character (or another
character according to your local configuration) are very easy to deal with. In this experiment we
use only the columns corresponding to the pitch angle and the illuminance.
Results and Conclusion
The experimental values directly obtained from the smartphone are shown in Fig. 3, together
with the theoretical prediction of the normalized illuminance as a function of the angle between the
polarization and the polarizer. Experimental data was fitted according to a logarithmic linearization
of Eq. 1, as shown in the inset of Fig. 3. The slope of the linear fit, which corresponds to the
exponent in the Malus' law, is
1.96±0.02
and the regression coefficient is
R2=0.99316
.
All in all, the experimental values are in excellent agreement with the expected ones, and we
conclude that thanks to the simultaneous use of two less exploited sensors of a smartphone it is
possible to verify the Malus' law in a way that is very accessible to the students, promoting
autonomy and engagement. Moreover, more experiments using smartphones and polarizers can be
devised, for example with waveplates or retarders (like half-wave plates and quarter-wave plates) or
circular polarizers such as those used in some 3D movie theaters or even with inexpensive
cellophane tape to explore birefringence17.
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Figure 1. The ambient light sensor (left panel), a polarizer above the ambient light sensor (center
panel) and a smartphone placed over a vertical screen (right panel). While the smartphone is gently
rotated, the ambient light and the angle is simultaneously registered by the sensors.
Figure 2. The smartphone, S, with the polarizer, p, attached over the ambient light sensor viewed
from the computer screen. Initially (left panel), the smartphone's y-axis is aligned with the vertical
direction (pitch angle = -θ = -90º) and the polarizer axis, a, is adjusted to be perpendicular to the
electric field, E0, of the polarized light from the computer screen. While the smartphone is being
rotated (right panel), the resulting electric field that passes through the polarizer and is incident
upon the light sensor is
E=E0cosθ
.
Figure 3. Experimental data (circles) of the normalized intensity of light as a function of the angle
between the polarization and the polarizer, and the theoretical expression of the Malus’s law (red
line). The light intensity is normalized to the maximum of the transmitted light,
I0
. The inset
shows the logarithmic plot as a function of the cosine of the angle and a linear fit (red line).