- Does the polarization of light change after reflecting off a mirror?
- Yes. If linearly polarized light is incident upon a mirror (whether aluminum or gold coated), the polarization is rotated 180° to the incident beam.
- When P-polarized light is incident on an elliptical metallic reflector, is the polarization of the reflected light unchanged or is it randomly polarized?
- When polarized light is incident on a conductive surface like a metallic coating, a 180° phase factor gets added to the beam. If you start with linear polarized light, this rotates the polarization direction from θ to θ +180° which is the same linear polarization direction. Circular polarization, which can be defined as two equal linear states with 90° phase difference between them, undergoes a more obvious change. 180° is added to the phase difference and it becomes 270° (or -90°). This means the linear state that was leading is now lagging the other (orthogonal) piece by a quarter wave.
http://www.edmundoptics.com/technical-support/technical-library/frequently-asked-questions/index.cfm?categoryid=15
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