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🤝 Not divided 💡 No set direction
unpolarized

unpolarized

6.7
Light or waves that vibrate in many directions
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈpoʊlərˌaɪzd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : no polarizado
  • Unpolarized light can be thought of as a mix of light vibrating, or "polarized," in two directions, 90 degrees apart.

The first component is a unpolarized light source, OK.

Examples

  • Most radio emission is unpolarized; the electromagnetic waves arrive without their electric and magnetic components having any preferred direction.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The first component is a unpolarized light source, OK.

    MIT OpenCourseWare

  • So again we look at unpolarized cross section.

  • This plate converts linear-polarized light to what is called circular-polarized light, which behaves as a mix very much like unpolarized light, so the second polarizer cannot remove all of the light, even at 90 degrees to the first one.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Spin-polarized beams of high-energy electrons scattering off unpolarized electrons or nuclei are particularly useful for examining the very slight preference for left-handers in the realm of fundamental particles.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Most radio emission is unpolarized; the electromagnetic waves arrive without their electric and magnetic components having any preferred direction.

  • A unpolarized light source emits light with no specific orientation or angle.

  • Unpolarized light can be thought of as a mix of unpolarized waves vibrating in multiple directions simultaneously.

Antonyms

polarized
  • Specialized
6.3

Light that vibrates in a single direction

How Polarized

polarized
  • Specialized
6.3
unpolarized
  • Specialized
6.7

Surface Forms

unpolarized positive

Morphology

unpolarized = polarized (transparent) = un + polar + ize + d

The meaning is the straightforward negation of 'polarized' in the physical sense, so the prefix is highly learnable.

Etymology

Unpolarized is made of un- 'not' and polar from pole 'direction' like a compass pointing one way, so imagine light that does not point in only one direction. So, unpolarized light vibrates in many directions instead of in just one.