Polarized light microscopy can mean any of a number
of optical microscopy techniques involving polarized light. Simple techniques
include illumination of the sample with polarized light. Directly transmitted light can, optionally, be blocked with a polariser orientated at 90 degrees to the illumination. More complex microscopy techniques which take advantage of polarized light include differential interference contrast microscopy and interference reflection microscopy. These illumination techniques are most commonly used on birefringent samples where the polarized light interacts strongly with the sample and so generating contrast with the background. Polarized light microscopy is used extensively in optical mineralogy. Polarized light microscopy is capable of providing information on absorption color and optical path boundaries between minerals of differing refractive indices, in a manner similar to brightfield illumination, but the technique can also distinguish between isotropic and anisotropic substances. Furthermore, the contrast-enhancing technique exploits the optical properties specific to anisotropy and reveals detailed information concerning the structure and composition of materials that are invaluable for identification and diagnostic purposes. Basic Properties of Polarized Light The wave model of light describes light waves vibrating at right angles to the direction of propagation with all vibration directions being equally probable. This is referred to as "common" or "non-polarized" white light. In polarized light there is only one vibration direction (Figure 1). The human eye-brain system has no sensitivity to the vibration directions of light, and polarized light can only be detected by an intensity or color effect, for example, by reduced glare when wearing polarized sun glasses. Polarized light is most commonly produced by absorption of light having a set of specific vibration directions in a dichroic medium. Certain natural minerals, such as tourmaline, possess this property, but synthetic films invented by Dr. Edwin H. Land in 1932 soon overtook all other materials as the medium of choice for production of polarized light. Tiny crystallites of iodoquinine sulfate, oriented in the same direction, are embedded in a transparent polymeric film to prevent migration and reorientation of the crystals. Land developed sheets containing polarizing films that were marketed under the 1. What is Polarized light microscopy? 2. How does Polarized light microscopy work
Handbook of Fluorescent Gems and Minerals - An Exposition and Catalog of the Fluorescent and Phosphorescent Gems and Minerals, Including the Use of Ultraviolet Light in the Earth Sciences