Principle and functionality of polarized sunglasses

June 15th, 2010 by David Wachler Leave a reply »

Sunglasses in colorful models are meaningful for people who are fashion conscious. Red sunglasses, pink sunglasses, yellow sunglasses and others are some of the popular styles. When more and more customers increasingly focus on sunwear appearance and style, it is worth emphasizing that the original functionality and other functional benefits should not be ignored. Buying any pair of sunglasses should first make sure 100% UV ray protection. Excellent protection against harmful light has long been and should continue to be the most valuable gift sunglasses can give. Yet regular sunglasses may not be competent in special conditions. For example, if there is strong glare reflected from flat surfaces on a sunny day, normal sunglasses can not shield the eyes adequately. In this case, polarized sunglasses are needed. Briefly speaking, polarized sunwear is aimed to reduce sunlight glare in outdoor circumstances, which is a great help for certain groups of people.

How can polarized sun glasses bring this functionality? Or what is the principle behind this helpful function? The sunlight is not polarized in its original form. However, flat surfaces like smooth water can separate sunlight into two polarized components which will then be reflected and transmitted in different amounts. In detail, more horizontal components will be reflected than vertical components. And an excessive amount of horizontally reflected light is the major source of glare experienced by people in such an environment. Polarized sunglasses take use of lenses that have polarized filters with the transmission axis oriented vertically, thus they can filter out unwanted horizontal light reflected by smooth surfaces. This principle explains why fishermen, bikers, golfers, joggers and skiers will receive little glare when they put on their polarized sunwear.

Polarized sunglasses are now provided by nearly all notable sunwear brands like Prada, Versace, Dior, Ray Ban and so forth. This technology has been a basic requirement or capability which can be taken to evaluate an eyewear brand. Sunglasses made of polarized lenses all come in shades from light gray to very dark, or photochromic. In other words, polarized sunglass lenses can not be crystal clear. This is a simple tip to check if your sunglasses are polarized.

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