Question

When ordinary light is made incident on a quarter wave plate, the emergent light is

• A. linearly polarised
• B. circularly polarised
• C. unpolarised
• D. elliptically polarised

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

elliptically polarised

Answer 2

A quarter-wave plate is basically used for the elliptical polarization of the unpolarized light incident over it. The quarter-wave plate produces the electric field at the various angle about the axis of the light and thereby making the light elliptically polarized. In case the electric field are at an angle of $90^{\circ}$ from one another, it is a special case of the circularly polarized light.