DescriptionPolarisation (Circular).svg	The direction of the helix relative to the central axis represents the direction of the electric field of the circularly polarized light at each point in space. The blue and red lines are projections of the helix onto two planes at right angles. There is an version which is identical to this original with the exception of phase indictors to make the phase relationship of its components clearer. Refer to Other Versions section below.
Date	12/02/07
Source	Own drawing down in Mathematica, edited in the open source program Inscape.   Cette image vectorielle non W3C-spécifiée a été créée avec Inkscape .
Auteur	inductiveload
Autorisation (Réutilisation de ce fichier)	Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse Moi, propriétaire des droits d’auteur sur cette œuvre, la place dans le domaine public. Ceci s'applique dans le monde entier. Dans certains pays, ceci peut ne pas être possible ; dans ce cas : J’accorde à toute personne le droit d’utiliser cette œuvre dans n’importe quel but, sans aucune condition, sauf celles requises par la loi.
Autres versions	Œuvres dérivées de ce fichier :  Polarisation (Circular) With Phase Indicators.svg Linear polarisation Elliptical polarisation

Mathematica Code

This figure requires the use of Arrow3D, which is not included in the StandardPackages (as of Feb 2007). This can be obtained from Wolfram Research at this location. The required packages are:

<< Graphics`
<< Arrow3D`Arrow3D`

The code is:

wavefunction = ParametricPlot3D[{Sin[4t], -Cos[4t], t}, {t, 0, 5}, 
BoxRatios -> {1, 1, 4}, ImageSize -> 400, Boxed -> False, Axes -> 
    False, PlotPoints -> 600, ViewPoint -> {2, 2, 2}, PlotRange -> All]

repsi = ParametricPlot3D[{Sin[4t], -1, t, RGBColor[1, 0, 0]}, {t, 0, 5}, 
    BoxRatios -> {4, 1, 1}, ImageSize -> 500,
     Boxed -> False, Axes -> False, PlotPoints -> 600, PlotRange -> All]

impsi = ParametricPlot3D[{-1, -Cos[4t], t, RGBColor[0, 0, 102/255]}, {t, 0, \
5}, BoxRatios -> {4, 1, 1}, ImageSize -> 500, Boxed -> False, Axes -> False, 
      PlotPoints -> 600, PlotRange -> All]

end = ParametricPlot3D[{Sin[t], -Cos[t], 0}, {t, 0, 
    2π}, BoxRatios -> {4, 1, 1}, ImageSize -> 500, Boxed -> False, 
    Axes -> False, PlotPoints -> 600, PlotRange -> All]

xaxis = Graphics3D[Arrow3D[{0, 0, -1}, {0, 
  0, 6}, HeadSize -> UniformSize[.5], HeadColor -> Black]]

uaxis = Graphics3D[Arrow3D[{0, -1, 0}, {0, 3, 0}, HeadSize -> 
    UniformSize[.5], HeadColor -> Black]]

vaxis = Graphics3D[Arrow3D[{-1, 0, 0}, {3, 0, 0}, HeadSize -> 
    UniformSize[.5], HeadColor -> Black]]

plane = Graphics3D[Polygon[{{1.2, 1.2, 0}, {1.2, -1.2,
   0}, {-1.2, -1.2, 0}, {-1.2, 1.2, 0}}]]

crate = WireFrame[Graphics3D[Cuboid[{1, 1, 0}, {-1, -1, 5}]]]

Show[wavefunction, xaxis, uaxis, vaxis, plane, repsi, impsi, end, crate]