Polarized light technique

A second class of polarizers uses dichroism to produce linearly polarized light. Techniques to produce dichroic polarizing sheets were pioneered by Land [52], These are made by dissolving a strongly dichroic, small molecule into an amorphous, transparent polymer. The dichroic molecules are then oriented by a uniaxial stretching of the polymer matrix. Since this is accomplished below the polymers glass transition temperature, this ori-... 

Strain gages have to be bonded to areas of machine parts that are most sensitive to applied force. Such areas can be identified with the use of polarized light technique that points out the stress distribution. 

On metals in particular, the dependence of the radiation absorption by surface species on the orientation of the electrical vector can be fiilly exploited by using one of the several polarization techniques developed over the past few decades [27, 28, 29 and 30], The idea behind all those approaches is to acquire the p-to-s polarized light intensity ratio during each single IR interferometer scan since the adsorbate only absorbs the p-polarized component, that spectral ratio provides absorbance infonnation for the surface species exclusively. Polarization-modulation mediods provide the added advantage of being able to discriminate between the signals due to adsorbates and those from gas or liquid molecules. Thanks to this, RAIRS data on species chemisorbed on metals have been successfidly acquired in situ under catalytic conditions [31], and even in electrochemical cells [32]. 

Molecular chirality is most often observed experimentally through its optical activity, which is the elfect on polarized light. The spectroscopic techniques for measuring optical activity are optical rotary dispersion (ORD), circular di-chroism (CD), and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD). 

Microscopy (qv) plays a key role in examining trace evidence owing to the small size of the evidence and a desire to use nondestmctive testing (qv) techniques whenever possible. Polarizing light microscopy (43,44) is a method of choice for crystalline materials. Microscopy and microchemical analysis techniques (45,46) work well on small samples, are relatively nondestmctive, and are fast. Evidence such as sod, minerals, synthetic fibers, explosive debris, foodstuff, cosmetics (qv), and the like, lend themselves to this technique as do comparison microscopy, refractive index, and density comparisons with known specimens. Other microscopic procedures involving infrared, visible, and ultraviolet spectroscopy (qv) also are used to examine many types of trace evidence. 

There is the microtoming optical analysis test. In this procedure thin slices (under 30 tixri) of the plastics are cut from the product at any level and microscopically examined under polarized light transmitted through the sample. Rapid quality and failure analysis examination occurs by this technique. This technique has been used for many years in biological studies and by metallurgists to determine flaws, physical and mechanical properties. Examination can be related to stress patterns, mechanical properties, etc. 

Experimental Techniques for PECD Measurement A. Polarized Light Sources... 

The fluorescence depolarization technique excites a fluorescent dye by linearly polarized light and measures the polarization anisotropy of the fluorescence emission. The fluorescence anisotropy, r, is defined as... 

Of the visible spectroscopic techniques, CD spectroscopy has seen the most rapid and dramatic growth. The far-UV circular dichroism spectrum of a protein is a direct reflection of its secondary structure [71]. An asymmetrical molecule, such as a protein macromolecule, exhibits circular dichroism because it absorbs circularly polarized light of one rotation differently from circularly polarized light of the other rotation. Therefore, the technique is useful in determining changes in secondary structure as a function of stability, thermal treatment, or freeze-thaw. 

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