The vectors represent the electric field in an electromagnetic wave such as light. The sheet represents a polarizer (a sheet of polaroid). The transmission axis is indicated with the red line.
The program recognizes the following commands:
| S | Stop animation. Press any key to resume animation. |
| 1 | Select sheet #1 on the far left side of the screen. |
| 2 | Select sheet #2 in the middle of the screen. If sheet #2 is not already on the screen, this commands puts it on the screen. |
| 3 | Select sheet #3 on the far right side of the screen. If sheet #2 is not already on the screen, this commands puts it on the screen. |
| D | Delete the current sheet. Sheet #1 is automatically selected after this command is executed. Sheet #1 cannot be deleted. |
| (space bar) Rotate the current sheet by 5 degrees in the currently selected direction. | |
| R | Reverse the direction sheets are rotated by the space bar. |
| P | Change the current sheet to a polarizer. The transmission axis is indicated by the red line. |
| U | Change the current sheet to a quarter-wave plate. The fast axis is indicated by the red line. Sheet #1 cannot be changed to a quarter-wave plate. |
| H | Change the current sheet to a half-wave plate. The fast axis is indicated by the red line. Sheet #1 cannot be changed to a half-wave plate. |
| C | Show x,y components of the electric field. Press C again to remove the components. |
| A | Show the angle of rotation for each sheet. Press A again to remove the angles. |
| Q | Quit program. |
| ? | Help. These commands are listed. |