Sugar sweet colors

The beautiful colors we observe under the polarizing microscope have to do with the "optical activity" of - in this case - fructose.

Light is an electromagnetic wave phenomenon, in which the direction of vibration is perpendicular to the direction of propagation. An electric and a magnetic vector vibrate thereby at right angles relative to each other. In a 'normal' light, such as daylight, all directions of vibration are present at the same time. Polarized light, is light wherein only one direction of vibration in the beam is present.