Complete annihilation of light through polarizers

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
4 replies · 2K views
quietrain
Messages
648
Reaction score
2
Hi,

when i am doing an experiment that uses two polarizers (Cross) to achieve complete annihilation of light,

why am i not able to see complete darkness when i look at the light source from the end of the polarizers, but rather the light source changes to a different color

for example, if i have a blue light source, i see it become dark blue, but never really black.

so is there a reason? theoretically i am suppose to kill 100% of the light right?

thanks!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The polarizers are imperfect.
 
so its a fault on the experiment apparatus?
 
Yes. Perfect polarizers are in the same category as frictionless surfaces.

You might suggest to the http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ideal/ideal.htm that they add perfect polarizers to their catalog. :smile: