What is the Difference Between Linear Circular and Elliptical Polarization

The key difference between linear circular and elliptical polarization is that in linear polarization, the electric field of light is limited to a single plane in which the propagation occurs, and in circular polarization, there are two linear planes in the electric field of light that are perpendicular to each other whereas, in elliptical polarization, the electric field of light is at an elliptical propagation.

In plane-polarized light, all the waves have the direction of vibration. There are three major types of light polarization: linear polarization, circular polarization, and elliptical polarization.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Linear Polarization
3. What is Circular Polarization
4. What is Elliptical Polarization
5. Linear vs Circular vs Elliptical Polarization in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Linear vs Circular vs Elliptical Polarization

What is Linear Polarization?

Linear polarization is a type of light polarization where the electric field of light is limited to a single plane when the propagation of light occurs. In other words, it is a confinement of the vector of an electric field or the vector of the magnetic field to a given plane along the direction of the propagation of light. We can say that a plane wave is linearly polarized when there is no difference between x and y components of the electric field of light.

What is Circular Polarization?

Circular polarization is a type of light polarization when there are two linear planes that are perpendicular to each other occurring through the electric field of light. In other words, it is the method of polarization of an EMR wave where either the vector of the electric field or the vector of magnetic field tends to execute a circle perpendicular to the path of the light propagation in which the frequency is equal to that of the wave.

More importantly, these two planes have equal amplitudes though their directions are perpendicular to each other. But the phases of the planes are different from each other. In this context, we can observe that the propagation of light occurs in a circular motion. Usually, this type of polarization is important in satellite communication.

What is Elliptical Polarization?

Elliptical polarization is a type of light polarization where the electric field of light is at an elliptical propagation in which the amplitude and phase difference between the two linear planes are not equal to each other. In other words, it is the method of polarization of EMR waves in a way that the tip of the vector of electric field displays an ellipse, and the direction is similar to the direction of propagation.

What is the Difference Between Linear Circular and Elliptical Polarization?

The key difference between linear circular and elliptical polarization is that in linear polarization, the electric field of light is limited to a single plane in which the propagation occurs and in circular polarization, there are two linear planes in the electric field of light that are perpendicular to each other whereas, in elliptical polarization, the electric field of light is at an elliptical propagation. Linear polarization is a simple polarization method while circular polarization is more complex than linear polarization. Elliptical polarization is a very complicated polarization method.

The following table summarizes the difference between linear circular and elliptical polarization.