privileged direction
privileged direction
[′priv·ə·lijd də′rek·shən] (optics)
One of two mutually perpendicular directions for the plane of polarization of a beam of plane-polarized light falling on a plate of anisotropic material such that the light which emerges from the plate is also plane-polarized.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.