Experiment for "Polarimetry" Teaching

Abstract

Polarimetry enables one to quantitatively determine certain substance (optically active substances) in a solution on the basis of rotation of the plane of the polarized light of a single wavelength. The main goal of this work is to measure concentration of optically active substances using homemade device, so called "polarimeter". The device measures the degree of light attenuation instead of the polarization angle of the polarized light as in commercial instruments. The designed "polarimeter" allows one to determine the concentration of optically active substances. It is a home-made device using a smartphone with a selected software, which is many times cheaper than commercially available ones. The authors would like to see the device find use in polytechnic education of students.