High Speed and Technical Photographs / 5015

Prof. Andrew Davidhazy

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5015

Polarization Stress Analysis photograph

Many transparent subject, especially those made of plastics, cause certain properties of light to change in a manner invisible to our eyes. They change the direction of the plane of polarization of light. This is an effect that can then be visualized by placing the subject between polarizers. Stresses frozen into these plastic parts during the manufactuing process then give rise to multicolored patterns that indicate the degree to which the plastic part affects a light beam traveling though it.