Refer to these two images in the plane wave article to better appreciate this. Specifically, given that this is a circularly polarized plane wave, these vectors indicate that the electric field, from plane to plane, has a constant strength while its direction steadily rotates. Given that this is a plane wave, each vector represents the magnitude and direction of the electric field for an entire plane that is perpendicular to the axis. This would be considered left-handedcounter-clockwise circularly polarized if defined from the point of view of the source rather than the receiver.
The other special case is the easier-to-understand linear polarization. In the case of a circularly polarized wave, as seen in the accompanying animation, the tip of the electric field vector, at a given point in space, describes a circle as time progresses.Īt any instant of time, the electric field vector of the wave indicates a point on a helix oriented along the direction of propagation.Ī circularly polarized wave can rotate in one of two possible senses: right circular polarization in which the electric field vector rotates in a right-hand sense with respect to the direction of propagation, and left circular polarization in which the vector rotates in a left-hand sense.
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