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[Leigh]So can one account for the phenomenon (of polarization) in terms of the
interactions of spinning photons with the polarizer?
If one considers the interaction of a circularly polarized
photon with a (dissipative) linear polarizer, then its
angular momentum is absorbed by the polarizer whether it
is transmitted or not.
...The stupid "slit" model (which I assume is equivalent to the
cake-grid or picket-fence model) is outrageously misleading.
A student should go away "understanding" that the light is
polarized in a plane parallel to the highly conducting grid?
When she actually tries it in the lab with microwaves and a
real cake grid she will find that the plane of polarization
is at right angles to it - or else she won't be able to
understand what is going on at all because of the fixed idea
that the wires must be parallel to the plane of polarization.
I have seen this misconception manifest more than once in a
laboratory situation (and mostly with male students). Score
another triumph for "conceptual" physics over real physics.
Leigh