polarization

Noun

polarization (countable and uncountable, plural polarizations)

1. The production or the condition of polarity.
   • The subtopologies that we discovered include: a glide-symmetric analog of the quantum spin Hall effect, an hourglass-flow topology (exemplified by our recently-proposed KHgSb material class), and quantized non-Abelian polarizations.2016, A. Alexandradinata, Zhijun Wang, B. Andrei Bernevig, “Topological Insulators from Group Cohomology”, in arXiv
   1. The grouping of opinions into two extremes.
      • What frazzled pollsters, surly op-ed pages, snarling cable talkfests and issue-starved candidates for office need is a fresh source of hot-eyed national polarization.2004 June 2, William Safire, “Abolish the Penny”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 19 Aug 2020
      • The polarization of wealth and the polarization of attitudes to diversity are not unrelated. A key reason for popular hostility to immigrants is that to many people, particularly within working-class communities, immigration has become a symbol of unacceptable change.2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 10 Oct 2021, retrieved 28 Sep 2013
   2. The production of polarized light; the direction in which the electric field of an electromagnetic wave points.
      • We don’t usually notice polarization because direct sunlight and light from ordinary incandescent and fluorescent bulbs is unpolarized: it contains equal mixtures of horizontally and vertically polarized light.2013 July 16, skullsinthestars, “Simple fun with polarizers!”, in Skulls in the Stars, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2022
   3. The separation of positive and negative charges in a nucleus, atom, molecule or system.