Polarization of Light from Basics to Instruments

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Part I: Polarization states, circular polarization

Slide 12

Circular polarization (II)

Part I: Polarization states, circular polarization

Slide 13

Circular polarization (III)

Part I: Polarization states, circular polarization

Slide 14

Circular polarization (IV)

Part I: Polarization states, circular polarization . see it now?

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Elliptical polarization

Part I: Polarization states, elliptical polarization

Linear + circular polarization = elliptical polarization

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Unpolarized light (natural light)

Part I: Polarization states, unpolarized light

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A cool Applet

Electromagnetic Wave

Location: http://www.uno.edu/~jsulliva/java/EMWave.html

Part I: Polarization states

Slide 18

Stokes parameters and Mueller matrices

Stokes parameters, Stokes vector

Stokes parameters for linear and circular polarization

Stokes parameters and polarization P

Mueller matrices, Mueller calculus

Jones formalism

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Stokes parameters A tiny itsy-bitsy little bit of history .

1669: Bartholinus discovers double refraction in calcite

17th – 19th centuries: Huygens, Malus, Brewster, Biot, Fresnel and Arago, Nicol .

19th century: unsuccessful attempts to describe unpolarized light in terms of amplitudes

1852: Sir George Gabriel Stokes took a very different approach and discovered that polarization can be described in terms of observables using an experimental definition

Part II: Stokes parameters

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Stokes parameters (I)

The polarization ellipse is only valid at a given instant of time (function of time):

To get the Stokes parameters, do a time average (integral over time) and a little bit of algebra .

Part II: Stokes parameters

Slide 21

Stokes parameters (II) described in terms of the electric field

The 4 Stokes parameters are:

Part II: Stokes parameters

Slide 22

Stokes parameters (III) described in geometrical terms