Term: depolarization of scattered light
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.D01598

Definition:
The phenomenon, due primarily to the anisotropy of the polarizability of the scattering medium, resulting from the fact that the electric vectors of the incident and scattered beams are not coplanar and that, therefore, light scattered from a vertically (horizontally) polarized incident beam contains a horizontal (vertical) component.

Related Terms:
1) anisotropy (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.AT06776).
2) polarizability (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.P04711).
3) scattering (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.S05487).

Source: Purple Book, 1st ed., p. 67 (http://old.iupac.org/publications/books/author/metanomski.html)

Citation: 'depolarization of scattered light' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.D01598

License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.

Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.