Sleek internal cable routing helps maintain a clean aesthetic, and keeps noise down. The optional tool / tube storage mount under the top tube allows for a more secure mounting option than a strap would. See Wolftooth’s B-Rad system here.

Polarized and unpolarizedlight

The Optic C2 comes with ‘TranzX’ bars at a 780mm width, and a house brand stem that’s 45mm long with a 35mm diameter clamp. We swapped the stock Ergon grips, as the rubber was much too stiff, and lacked the comfort we were looking for. The Shimano Deore tier brakes were a bit of a surprise, we’d expect to see SLX on a bike of this caliber. With 180mm rotors front and rear, the brake set did work impressively well though.

Up front, the 140mm RockShox Pike Select Plus proved more than capable for most tasks, and after fine tuning pressure, settings, and tokens, it became a distinct asset in rowdy terrain.

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\) shows the effect of two polarizing filters on originally unpolarized light. The first filter polarizes the light along its axis. When the axes of the first and second filters are aligned (parallel), then all of the polarized light passed by the first filter is also passed by the second filter. If the second polarizing filter is rotated, only the component of the light parallel to the second filter’s axis is passed. When the axes are perpendicular, no light is passed by the second filter.

Polarization lightin physics

Only the component of the EM wave parallel to the axis of a filter is passed. Let us call the angle between the direction of polarization and the axis of a filter θ. If the electric field has an amplitude E, then the transmitted part of the wave has an amplitude \(E\cos θ \) (Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\)). Since the intensity of a wave is proportional to its amplitude squared, the intensity I of the transmitted wave is related to the incident wave by

Since the part of the light that is not reflected is refracted, the amount of polarization depends on the indices of refraction of the media involved. It can be shown that reflected light is completely polarized at an angle of reflection θb given by

Although you are undoubtedly aware of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) found in watches, calculators, computer screens, cellphones, flat screen televisions, and many other places, you may not be aware that they are based on polarization. Liquid crystals are so named because their molecules can be aligned even though they are in a liquid. Liquid crystals have the property that they can rotate the polarization of light passing through them by 90°. Furthermore, this property can be turned off by the application of a voltage, as illustrated in Figure \(\PageIndex{11}\). It is possible to manipulate this characteristic quickly and in small, well-defined regions to create the contrast patterns we see in so many LCD devices.

Polarizing filters have a polarization axis that acts as a slit. This slit passes EM waves (often visible light) that have an electric field parallel to the axis. This is accomplished with long molecules aligned perpendicular to the axis, as shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{8}\).

This Open Source Physics animation helps you visualize the electric field vectors as light encounters a polarizing filter. You can rotate the filter—note that the angle displayed is in radians. You can also rotate the animation for 3D visualization.

Polarization lightuses

The Fizik Taiga saddle has a sleek look to it, comfortable contour, yet had a bit stiffer and thinner foam material than we prefer.

Light is one type of electromagnetic (EM) wave. EM waves are transverse waves consisting of varying electric and magnetic fields that oscillate perpendicular to the direction of propagation (Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). However, in general, there are no specific directions for the oscillations of the electric and magnetic fields; they vibrate in any randomly oriented plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation. Polarization is the attribute that a wave’s oscillations do have a definite direction relative to the direction of propagation of the wave. (This is not the same type of polarization as that discussed for the separation of charges.) Waves having such a direction are said to be polarized. For an EM wave, we define the direction of polarization to be the direction parallel to the electric field. Thus, we can think of the electric field arrows as showing the direction of polarization, as in Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\).

Circularly polarizedlight

This Open Source Physics animation shows incident, reflected, and refracted light as rays and EM waves. Try rotating the animation for 3D visualization and also change the angle of incidence. Near Brewster’s angle, the reflected light becomes highly polarized.

Many crystals and solutions rotate the plane of polarization of light passing through them. Such substances are said to be optically active. Examples include sugar water, insulin, and collagen (Figure \(\PageIndex{11}\)). In addition to depending on the type of substance, the amount and direction of rotation depend on several other factors. Among these is the concentration of the substance, the distance the light travels through it, and the wavelength of light. Optical activity is due to the asymmetrical shape of molecules in the substance, such as being helical. Measurements of the rotation of polarized light passing through substances can thus be used to measure concentrations, a standard technique for sugars. It can also give information on the shapes of molecules, such as proteins, and factors that affect their shapes, such as temperature and pH.

Before we hit the trails, we took advantage of Norco’s signature ‘Ride Aligned’ setup system. We found the guide to be quite useful in establishing some base line settings before making preferential tweaks to suit our typical setup. In the photo below, you’ll notice Norco recommends a size Large frame, yet our editor rode a medium as he often prefers a smaller more nimble bike and is commonly right in between medium and large sizes. Norco provides a rider ability scale, and based on where you fall on it, different settings are suggested.

Another interesting phenomenon associated with polarized light is the ability of some crystals to split an unpolarized beam of light into two polarized beams. This occurs because the crystal has one value for the index of refraction of polarized light but a different value for the index of refraction of light polarized in the perpendicular direction, so that each component has its own angle of refraction. Such crystals are said to be birefringent, and, when aligned properly, two perpendicularly polarized beams will emerge from the crystal (Figure \(\PageIndex{14}\)). Birefringent crystals can be used to produce polarized beams from unpolarized light. Some birefringent materials preferentially absorb one of the polarizations. These materials are called dichroic and can produce polarization by this preferential absorption. This is fundamentally how polarizing filters and other polarizers work.

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(a) At what angle will light traveling in air be completely polarized horizontally when reflected from water? (b) From glass?

A seemingly lesser talked about brand, the X-Fusion Manic, 150mm dropper was extremely smooth, and the lever paddle and action was comfortable and smooth respectively.

Polarizing sunglasses are familiar to most of us. They have a special ability to cut the glare of light reflected from water or glass (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). They have this ability because of a wave characteristic of light called polarization. What is polarization? How is it produced? What are some of its uses? The answers to these questions are related to the wave character of light.

Editors Note: As we are aware of the risks COVID-19 has on our society, our images and ride time on this product was done either before the pandemic, or in a safe, low risk setting, avoiding contact with other riders.

To examine this further, consider the transverse waves in the ropes shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\). The oscillations in one rope are in a vertical plane and are said to be vertically polarized. Those in the other rope are in a horizontal plane and are horizontally polarized. If a vertical slit is placed on the first rope, the waves pass through. However, a vertical slit blocks the horizontally polarized waves. For EM waves, the direction of the electric field is analogous to the disturbances on the ropes.

After recent rides on a long travel ‘mullet’ bike, the compact fast nature of the Optic took a few runs to get acquatinted with. Once we settled in on the bike, it was game on. We found the Super Deluxe DH rear shock to be a highlight of the bike, and carry its petite 125mm of travel though rough and wild terrain with ease. It’s not easy to fit the ideal performance of rear travel feeling light off the top, supportive in the middle of the stroke, and ramping up at the end into just 125mm of travel, but Norco and RockShox pulled it off. The steep seat tube angle, and body position we found ourselves to be in, made for efficient climbing (even with no lockout lever present), and quick accelerations up and over roots, rocks etc.

What angle is needed between the direction of polarized light and the axis of a polarizing filter to reduce its intensity by 90.0%?

Polarization lightmeaning

Out back is a piece of tech unique to the Optic, at least in this category anyway – the RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate DH. This shock is more commonly found on long travel bikes, which at 125mm the Optic certainly is not. Norco engineers decided to forgo the lockout on the Standard Super Deluxe RCT and instead worked to custom build this shock for the high performance ride feel they were looking for, and it immediately showed.

Circularpolarization

Solving Malus's law (Equation \ref{Malus's Law}) for \(\cos θ\) and substituting with the relationship between I and I0 gives

Although we did not specify the direction in Example \(\PageIndex{1}\), let’s say the polarizing filter was rotated clockwise by 71.6° to reduce the light intensity by 90.0%. What would be the intensity reduction if the polarizing filter were rotated counterclockwise by 71.6°?

It’s widely known that the Norco Optic has been praised by various athletes and editors. We were very keen to see what all the hype was about, and got our hands on the 2020 $4,699 Optic C2 for some serious trail time and testing. The C2 spec bike comes in a Green and Black colorway, and is sold in sizes Small through Extra Large. Full review, and riding video below.

Light reflected at these angles could be completely blocked by a good polarizing filter held with its axis vertical. Brewster’s angle for water and air are similar to those for glass and air, so that sunglasses are equally effective for light reflected from either water or glass under similar circumstances. Light that is not reflected is refracted into these media. Therefore, at an incident angle equal to Brewster’s angle, the refracted light is slightly polarized vertically. It is not completely polarized vertically, because only a small fraction of the incident light is reflected, so a significant amount of horizontally polarized light is refracted.

where \(I_0\) is the intensity of the polarized wave before passing through the filter. This equation is known as Malus’s law.

When the intensity is reduced by 90.0%, it is 10.0% or 0.100 times its original value. That is, I=0.100I0. Using this information, the equation I=I0cos2θ can be used to solve for the needed angle.

The 2020 Optic’s Geometry immediately separates it from a standard ‘Trail’ bike. Sure it’s a 125 / 140mm bike, but with a slack 65 ° head tube angle, steep 76 ° seat tube angle, and a long-ish (size medium – 450mm) reach, the Optic begs to be pushed at high speeds. We also are a fan of the size chainstay / rear center lengths increasing through the size range, as it ensures the bike as a whole will handle the same throughout those sizes.

By now, you can probably guess that polarizing sunglasses cut the glare in reflected light, because that light is polarized. You can check this for yourself by holding polarizing sunglasses in front of you and rotating them while looking at light reflected from water or glass. As you rotate the sunglasses, you will notice the light gets bright and dim, but not completely black. This implies the reflected light is partially polarized and cannot be completely blocked by a polarizing filter.

A full GX Eagle drivetrain can be found on the Optic C2, complete with carbon X1 DUB cranks and a 30 tooth ring. The group set is more than proven at this point, and worked flawlessly for the duration of our test. The bike features a carbon front end, and an alloy rear, with an integrated chainstay protector.

If you hold your polarizing sunglasses in front of you and rotate them while looking at blue sky, you will see the sky get bright and dim. This is a clear indication that light scattered by air is partially polarized. Figure \(\PageIndex{10}\) helps illustrate how this happens. Since light is a transverse EM wave, it vibrates the electrons of air molecules perpendicular to the direction that it is traveling. The electrons then radiate like small antennae. Since they are oscillating perpendicular to the direction of the light ray, they produce EM radiation that is polarized perpendicular to the direction of the ray. When viewing the light along a line perpendicular to the original ray, as in the figure, there can be no polarization in the scattered light parallel to the original ray, because that would require the original ray to be a longitudinal wave. Along other directions, a component of the other polarization can be projected along the line of sight, and the scattered light is only partially polarized. Furthermore, multiple scattering can bring light to your eyes from other directions and can contain different polarizations.

Polarizationoflightnotes PDF

A fairly large angle between the direction of polarization and the filter axis is needed to reduce the intensity to 10.0% of its original value. This seems reasonable based on experimenting with polarizing films. It is interesting that at an angle of 45°, the intensity is reduced to 50% of its original value. Note that 71.6° is 18.4° from reducing the intensity to zero, and that at an angle of 18.4°, the intensity is reduced to 90.0% of its original value, giving evidence of symmetry.

Figure \(\PageIndex{7}\) illustrates what happens when unpolarized light is reflected from a surface. Vertically polarized light is preferentially refracted at the surface, so the reflected light is left more horizontally polarized. The reasons for this phenomenon are beyond the scope of this text, but a convenient mnemonic for remembering this is to imagine the polarization direction to be like an arrow. Vertical polarization is like an arrow perpendicular to the surface and is more likely to stick and not be reflected. Horizontal polarization is like an arrow bouncing on its side and is more likely to be reflected. Sunglasses with vertical axes thus block more reflected light than unpolarized light from other sources.

Up front you’ll find a Schwalbe Magic Mary Super TLE, 29 “x 2.35”, Addix Soft compound with a Hans Dampf out back, this impeccable tire combo wraps the Stans Flow S1 rims that are laced to worry free DT Swiss 350 hubs.

This page titled 1.8: Polarization is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by OpenStax via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

Figure \(\PageIndex{9}\) illustrates how the component of the electric field parallel to the long molecules is absorbed. An EM wave is composed of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. The electric field is strong compared with the magnetic field and is more effective in exerting force on charges in the molecules. The most affected charged particles are the electrons, since electron masses are small. If an electron is forced to oscillate, it can absorb energy from the EM wave. This reduces the field in the wave and, hence, reduces its intensity. In long molecules, electrons can more easily oscillate parallel to the molecule than in the perpendicular direction. The electrons are bound to the molecule and are more restricted in their movement perpendicular to the molecule. Thus, the electrons can absorb EM waves that have a component of their electric field parallel to the molecule. The electrons are much less responsive to electric fields perpendicular to the molecule and allow these fields to pass. Thus, the axis of the polarizing filter is perpendicular to the length of the molecule.

As we feel quite confident out on the trails, and tend to ride on the aggressive side, we based many of our settings off the ‘Pro’ rider skill setting, which is likely part of the reason the Ride Aligned guide suggested a Large. Anyhow, it was mostly spot on, but we did make some minor tweaks to things like tire pressure and stem spacing to further tailor the Optic to our liking.

Photographs of the sky can be darkened by polarizing filters, a trick used by many photographers to make clouds brighter by contrast. Scattering from other particles, such as smoke or dust, can also polarize light. Detecting polarization in scattered EM waves can be a useful analytical tool in determining the scattering source.

For being a horst-link driven bike, the Optic not only excelled in the aforementioned descents, and climbs, but remained quite stable under braking forces. The platform is fairly simple, but made for reliable trail feel and efficient pedaling platform that we got accustomed to.

In flat screen LCD televisions, a large light is generated at the back of the TV. The light travels to the front screen through millions of tiny units called pixels (picture elements). One of these is shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{11}\). Each unit has three cells, with red, blue, or green filters, each controlled independently. When the voltage across a liquid crystal is switched off, the liquid crystal passes the light through the particular filter. We can vary the picture contrast by varying the strength of the voltage applied to the liquid crystal.

Unpolarizedlight

A range of optical effects are used in sunglasses. Besides being polarizing, sunglasses may have colored pigments embedded in them, whereas others use either a nonreflective or reflective coating. A recent development is photochromic lenses, which darken in the sunlight and become clear indoors. Photochromic lenses are embedded with organic microcrystalline molecules that change their properties when exposed to UV in sunlight, but become clear in artificial lighting with no UV.

where n1 is the medium in which the incident and reflected light travel and n2 is the index of refraction of the medium that forms the interface that reflects the light. This equation is known as Brewster’s law and θb is known as Brewster’s angle, named after the nineteenth-century Scottish physicist who discovered them.

Cornering on the Optic was a dream, and its nimble nature allows the rider to push into turns, putting the bike in the best position, be it a flat banked corner, or a scooped and tight berm. The parts spec on the Optic C2 make for a very competitively priced bike – even sitting bone stock, the bike is incredibly capable and doesn’t call for any absolutely urgent part swaps (sans grips). However, a higher tier four piston brake set, a 200mm front rotor (the bike goes fast …), and wider bars would make the Optic C2 that much more ready for rowdy action.

The Sun and many other light sources produce waves that have the electric fields in random directions (Figure \(\PageIndex{1a}\)). Such light is said to be unpolarized, because it is composed of many waves with all possible directions of polarization. Polaroid materials—which were invented by the founder of the Polaroid Corporation, Edwin Land—act as a polarizing slit for light, allowing only polarization in one direction to pass through. Polarizing filters are composed of long molecules aligned in one direction. If we think of the molecules as many slits, analogous to those for the oscillating ropes, we can understand why only light with a specific polarization can get through. The axis of a polarizing filter is the direction along which the filter passes the electric field of an EM wave.

Glass and plastic become optically active when stressed: the greater the stress, the greater the effect. Optical stress analysis on complicated shapes can be performed by making plastic models of them and observing them through crossed filters, as seen in Figure \(\PageIndex{12}\). It is apparent that the effect depends on wavelength as well as stress. The wavelength dependence is sometimes also used for artistic purposes.

All we need to solve these problems are the indices of refraction. Air has n1=1.00, water has n2=1.333, and crown glass has n′2=1.520. The equation \(tan \, θ_b=\frac{n_2}{n_1}\) can be directly applied to find θb in each case.

The Optic is a hard charging bike, and though its travel numbers are similar to many other short travel 29 ‘trail bikes’, the Optic falls into a class of its own. Visually intriguing, confidence inspiring, and keen for a long pedal, the Optic is certainly a top contender for a do-it-all trail weapon. Specifically, it’s excellent rear suspension and balanced geo throughout the size range set it apart from most of the other bikes on the market.