polarization

noun polarizations · polarisation

1. countable, uncountable 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.
2. countable, uncountable 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.
3. countable, uncountable 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.
4. countable, uncountable The separation of positive and negative charges in a nucleus, atom, molecule or system.