Does Polarization Cause Discontinuous EM Waves?

[fluidistic]

I'd like to test my understanding of polarization, concept new to me. I except that the answer to my following question is "no", but I'm not sure and I don't know why it would be so.
If I see a circularly (left of right, it doesn't matter) polarized EM wave going to my eyes and I put a polaroid in front of my eyes such that it polarizes linearly the light. Will the EM wave getting on my retina be a continuous wave? I'd think that no since the polaroid would absorb most of the light and let only pass the wave when the electric and magnetic fields have a very particular direction. So only a small part of the incoming wave would pass through the polaroid, making a discontinuous wave. Is my reasoning erroneous? I guess that yes, but I need an explanation.
In other words, would my retina be constantly receiving some EM wave? I think that most of the time, no. Am I right?

 

[cesiumfrog]

Imagine a long rope or string, holding one end while the other is tied off. You can send linear polarised waves along it by shaking your end up and down. You can send circ. pol. waves by shaking the end in a circle. If the string passes through a narrow vertical gap, like a door jam, what kind of wave gets through the jam if you try sending a) circular b) vertical c) horizontal polarisations? (And does anything get reflected?)

 

[Andy Resnick]

If I see a circularly (left of right, it doesn't matter) polarized EM wave going to my eyes and I put a polaroid in front of my eyes such that it polarizes linearly the light. Will the EM wave getting on my retina be a continuous wave?

Circular polarization is the sum of two linear polarization states, each in quadrature to each other. So the field passing through a linear polarizer is one of the two states, which has a time-dependent amplitude and intensity [sin(wt) or sin^2(wt)]. This is not a discontinuous wave, tho.

 

[fluidistic]

Thanks both for helping,

Imagine a long rope or string, holding one end while the other is tied off. You can send linear polarised waves along it by shaking your end up and down. You can send circ. pol. waves by shaking the end in a circle. If the string passes through a narrow vertical gap, like a door jam, what kind of wave gets through the jam if you try sending a) circular b) vertical c) horizontal polarisations? (And does anything get reflected?)

I have a language difficulty, I tried google translator and wikipedia, but I can't figure out what a door jam is and I have a vague idea about what a vertical gap is.
So I can't really answer, but my intuition tells me that b passes, c doesn't and I'm not sure what happens with a.

Circular polarization is the sum of two linear polarization states, each in quadrature to each other. So the field passing through a linear polarizer is one of the two states, which has a time-dependent amplitude and intensity [sin(wt) or sin^2(wt)]. This is not a discontinuous wave, tho.

I see. I'd have to read more about it, I can't picture in my head what's going on.

 

[sardar]

I can confirm that polarization does not cause discontinuous EM waves. Polarization refers to the orientation of the electric and magnetic fields of an EM wave, and it does not affect the continuity of the wave itself. Even when light is polarized, it still behaves as a continuous wave with a specific frequency and wavelength.

In the scenario you described, the polaroid filter would indeed absorb most of the light passing through it, allowing only a small portion of the circularly polarized wave to pass through. However, this does not mean that the wave becomes discontinuous. The remaining portion of the wave still has a continuous oscillation of the electric and magnetic fields, just in a specific direction determined by the orientation of the polaroid.

Therefore, your retina would still receive a continuous wave, just with a specific polarization. The amount of light that reaches your retina may be reduced, but it does not affect the continuity of the wave.

It is important to note that polarization only affects the orientation of the wave, not its continuity. So even if you change the polarization of the wave using a polaroid filter, it will still be a continuous wave.

I hope this explanation helps to clarify your understanding of polarization and its effects on EM waves.