- Circular polarization in nature
Only a few mechanisms in nature are known to systematically produce circularly polarized
light . In 1911,Albert Abraham Michelson discovered that light reflected from thegolden scarab beetle "Plusiotis resplendens" is preferentially left-handed. Since then, circular polarization has been measured in several otherscarab beetle s, as well as somecrustacean s. In these cases, the underlying mechanism is the molecular-level helicity of thechitin ouscuticle .cite journal |title=Imaging polarimetry of the circularly polarizing cuticle of scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Rutelidae, Cetoniidae) |author=Hegedüs, Ramón; Győző Szélb; and Gábor Horváth |doi=10.1016/j.visres.2006.02.007 |journal=Vision Research |volume=46 |issue=17 |month=September |year=2006 |pages=2786-2797 |url=http://arago.elte.hu/PUBLICATIONS/CIKKEK/ANGOL/ScarabCircPol_VR-paper-with-bw-figs.pdf]The
bioluminescence offirefly larva e is also circularly polarized, as reported in 1980 for the species "Photuris lucicrescens " and "Photuris versicolor ". For fireflies, it is more difficult to find a microscopic explanation for the polarization, because the left and right lanterns of the larvae were found to emit polarized light of opposite senses. The authors suggest that the light begins with alinear polarization due to inhomogeneties inside alignedphotocyte s, and it picks up circular polarization while passing through linearlybirefringent tissue. [cite journal |title=Circular polarization observed in bioluminescence |author=Wynberg, Hans; Meijer, E.W.; Hummelen, J.C.; Dekkers, H.P.J.M.; Schippers, P.H.; Carlson, A.D |url=http://keur.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/wetenschappers/10/29/29.pdf |journal=Nature |volume=286 |issue=5773 |pages=641-642 |month=August |day=7 |year=1980 |doi=10.1038/286641a0]Water-air interfaces provide another source of circular polarization. Sunlight that gets scattered back up towards the surface is linearly polarized. If this light is then totally internally reflected back down, its vertical component undergoes a phase shift. To an underwater observer looking up, the faint light outside
Snell's window therefore is (partially) circularly polarized. [cite book |title=Polarized Light in Animal Vision: Polarization Patterns in Nature |author=Horváth, Gábor and Dezsö Varjú |year=2003 |publisher=Springer |isbn=3540404570 |pages=100-103]Weaker sources of circular polarization in nature include multiple scattering by linear polarizers, as in the
circular polarization of starlight , and selective absorption by circularly dichroic media.References
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