Maltese cross in polarized-light microscopy
= Maltese cross in polarized-light microscopy
{c}
An extinction pattern with four dark arms produced, for example, by a radial arrangement of local optical principal directions between crossed <polarizers>. The local intensity factor $\sin^2(2\varphi)$ vanishes along the polarizer axes. Such a radial-material pattern need not be a <conoscopic interference pattern>.