Two types of polarized laser light (IMAGE)
Caption
Laser light is usually linearly polarized, meaning that its waves oscillate in only one direction – up and down, in the example at left. But it can also be circularly polarized, at right, so its waves spiral like a corkscrew around the direction the light is traveling. A new study from SLAC and Stanford predicts that this circularly polarized light can be used to explore quantum materials in ways that were not possible before.
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Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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