Question

Light is entering a polarizer or set of polarizers from the left. Determine the relative intensity of the light exiting on the right after passing through all of the polarizers. The dashed vertical lines represent the vertical reference. The solid lines represent either the polarization angle of the light or the transmission angle of the polarizer. CW represents clockwise and CCW represents counterclockwise as viewed from the right looking back to the left along the path of the light.
Full IntensityPartial IntensityZero Intensity Unpolarized light enters from the left and passes through one polarizer with the transmission axis oriented 45

Answer 1

Rules:
A. Unpolarized light has 50% intensity loss passing through a polarizer.
B. The proportion of intensity of polarized light that passes through a polarizer is (cos?)^2, where ? is the angle between light polarization and polarizer. This means:
B1. Light polarized perpendicular to polarizer has zero transmission
B2. Light polarized parallel to polarizer has full transmission
B3. Light polarized at any other angle to polarizer has partial transmission
1. Zero. Rules A, B1; 0.5*0
2. Partial. Rules B3, B2; 0.5*1
3. Zero. Rule B1, B1; 0*0
4. Full. Rules B2, B2; 1*1