A polarizer is a type of optical filter that only allows light waves of a certain type to go through, while blocking other types. It can turn a mixed or undefined light beam into a clear, polarized light beam. There are two main kinds of polarizers: linear and circular. They’re used in many areas such as photography, LCD technology, and various optical tools. Not only for visible light, polarizers can also work with other electromagnetic waves like radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays. Linear polarizers can be absorptive, which means they absorb unwanted light types, reflective, which means they reflect unwanted light types, or beam-splitting, which means they break the light beam into two opposite types. Circular polarizers can make circularly polarized light or selectively let through or block light that’s spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise. Meadowlark offers both linear and circular polarizers, as well as beamsplitters.
