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handbook of modern sensors

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7.5 Optical Sensors 277<br />

(A) (B) (C)<br />

Fig. 7.26. Passing polarized light through a polarizing filter: (A) direction <strong>of</strong> polarization is<br />

the same as <strong>of</strong> the filter; (B) direction <strong>of</strong> polarization is rotated with respect to the filter; (C)<br />

direction <strong>of</strong> polarization is perpendicular with respect to the filter.<br />

(A)<br />

(B)<br />

Fig. 7.27. Proximity detector with two polarizing filters positioned at a 90 ◦ angle with respect<br />

to one another: (A) polarized light returns from the metallic object within the same plane<br />

<strong>of</strong> polarization; (B) nonmetallic object depolarizes light, thus allowing it to pass through the<br />

polarizing filter.<br />

However, any direction <strong>of</strong> polarization can be represented as a geometrical sum <strong>of</strong><br />

two orthogonal polarizations: One is the same as the filter and the other is nonpassing.<br />

Thus, by rotating the polarization <strong>of</strong> light before the polarizing filter, we may<br />

gradually change the light intensity at the filter’s output (Fig. 7.26).<br />

When polarized light strikes an object, the reflected light may retain its polarization<br />

(specular reflection) or the polarization angle may change. The latter is typical for<br />

many nonmetallic objects. Thus, to make a sensor nonsensitive to reflective objects<br />

(like metal cans, foil wrappers, and the like), it may include two perpendicularly<br />

positioned polarizing filters: one at the light source and the other at the detector (Figs.<br />

7.27A and 7.27B). The first filter is positioned at the emitting lens (light source) to<br />

polarize the outgoing light. The second filter is at the receiving lens (detector) to allow<br />

passage <strong>of</strong> only those components <strong>of</strong> light which have a 90 ◦ rotation with respect to<br />

the outgoing polarization. Whenever light is reflected from a specular reflector, its<br />

polarization direction does not change and the receiving filter will not allow the light<br />

to pass to a photodetector. However, when light is reflected in a nonspecular manner,<br />

its components will contain a sufficient amount <strong>of</strong> polarization to go through the<br />

receiving filter and activate the detector. Therefore, the use <strong>of</strong> polarizers reduces<br />

false-positive detections <strong>of</strong> nonmetallic objects.

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