Title: Made to measure stencil: HWU shines through!

Aongus McCarthy

School of EPS

Viewing transparent moulded plastic items between crossed polarisers can reveal colourful stress patterns because of the induced birefringence. The symmetry of the H-W-U letters in this plastic stencil meant that they looked the same, and were in the “right” order, when the stencil was turned over! The letters were made to appear bright between crossed polarisers by using pieces of sellotape which cause the plane of polarisation to be rotated.