Pleochroism

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Pleochroism occurs in anisotropic crystals. Light of one color is transmitted along one of the allowed vibrational paths's of the crystal, while light of a different color is transmitted along a different vibrational direction. At extinction, the crystal ONLY transmits light of the allowed vibrational direction parallel to the plane polarized light. In the crystal at the left, in one extinction position blue light will be transmitted. If the stage is rotated 90 degrees, to the next extinction position, green light will be transmitted. In between a mixture of blue and green light will be transmitted.