DescriptionPolarisation (Elliptical).svg	Diagram of elliptical polarisation of electromagnetic radiation
Date	12/02/07
Source	Own drawing down in Mathematica, edited in Inkscape.   This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape .
Author	Inductiveload
Permission (Reusing this file)	Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
Other versions	Circular polarisation Linear 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[{0.5 Sin[4t+1],-Sin[4t],t},{t,0,5},
    BoxRatios\[Rule]{1,
      1,4},ImageSize\[Rule]400,Boxed\[Rule]False,Axes\[Rule]False,
      PlotPoints\[Rule]60,ViewPoint->{2,2, 2},PlotRange\[Rule]All]

repsi=ParametricPlot3D[{0.5 Sin[4t+1],-1,t,RGBColor[1,0,0]},{t,0,5},
      BoxRatios\[Rule]{4,1,1},ImageSize\[Rule]500,
      Boxed\[Rule]False,Axes\[Rule]False,
        PlotPoints\[Rule]60,PlotRange\[Rule]All]

impsi=ParametricPlot3D[{-1,-Sin[4t],t,RGBColor[0,0,102/255]},{
    t,0,5},BoxRatios\[Rule]{4,1,1},ImageSize\[Rule]500,Boxed\[Rule]False,
      Axes\[Rule]False,PlotPoints\[Rule]60,PlotRange\[Rule]All]

end=ParametricPlot3D[{0.5 Sin[t+1],-Sin[t],0},{t,0,2π},BoxRatios\[Rule]{4,1,1},
    ImageSize\[Rule]500,Boxed\[Rule]False,Axes\[Rule]False,
      PlotPoints\[Rule]10,PlotRange\[Rule]All]

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

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

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