Circularly polarized light from a gamma-ray burst

Physics Today ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 16-17
Author(s):  
Steven K. Blau
Author(s):  
Marcos F. Maestre

Recently we have developed a form of polarization microscopy that forms images using optical properties that have previously been limited to macroscopic samples. This has given us a new window into the distribution of structure on a microscopic scale. We have coined the name differential polarization microscopy to identify the images obtained that are due to certain polarization dependent effects. Differential polarization microscopy has its origins in various spectroscopic techniques that have been used to study longer range structures in solution as well as solids. The differential scattering of circularly polarized light has been shown to be dependent on the long range chiral order, both theoretically and experimentally. The same theoretical approach was used to show that images due to differential scattering of circularly polarized light will give images dependent on chiral structures. With large helices (greater than the wavelength of light) the pitch and radius of the helix could be measured directly from these images.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoming Zhang ◽  
Takunori Harada ◽  
Adriana Pietropaolo ◽  
Yuting Wang ◽  
Yue Wang ◽  
...  

Preferred-handed propeller conformation was induced by circularly polarized light irradiation to three amorphous molecules with trigonal symmetry, and the molecules with induced chirality efficiently exhibited blue circularly polarized luminescence. In...


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
Boxuan Gao ◽  
Jeroen Beeckman ◽  
Kristiaan Neyts

We demonstrate a laser beam combiner based on four photo-patterned Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phase gratings, which is compact and has high diffraction efficiency for incident circularly polarized light. The nematic liquid crystal mixture E7 is used as anisotropic material, and the thickness of the layer is controlled by spacers. The beam combiner can bring two parallel laser beams closer to each other while remaining parallel. This work shows the potential to realize components based on flat optical LC devices.


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