The Law of Malus, also known as Malus' Law, is a fundamental law in optics that describes the relationship between the intensity of light passing through a polarizer and the angle of the polarizer relative to the incident light.
The Law of Malus can be verified experimentally by using a polarizer and a light source. The intensity of light passing through the polarizer at different angles can be measured and plotted on a graph. The resulting curve should be a cosine squared curve, confirming the validity of the law.
The Law of Malus is significant because it helps us understand the behavior of polarized light. It has practical applications in industries such as telecommunications, astronomy, and photography.
The Law of Malus was discovered by French physicist Étienne-Louis Malus in 1808. He was studying the properties of polarized light and noticed the relationship between the intensity of light and the angle of the polarizer.
The Law of Malus is only applicable to polarized light, which is light that vibrates in a single plane. It does not apply to unpolarized light, which vibrates in multiple planes, or circularly polarized light, which has a rotating polarization direction.