Singular polarimetry: Evolution of polarization singularities in electromagnetic waves propagating through a weakly anisotropic medium

Abstract

We describe the evolution of a paraxial electromagnetic wave characterizing by a non-uniform polarization distribution with singularities and propagating in a weakly anisotropic medium. Our approach is based on the Stokes vector evolution equation applied to a non-uniform initial polarization field. In the case of a homogeneous medium, this equation is integrated analytically. This yields a 3-dimensional distribution of the polarization parameters containing singularities, i.e. C-lines of circular polarization and L-surfaces of linear polarization. The general theory is applied to specific examples of the unfolding of a vectorial vortex in birefringent and dichroic media.

15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Optics Express

References in corpus (4)

• Geometrical Optics of Beams with Vortices: Berry Phase and Orbital Angular Momentum Hall Effect
• Non-Abelian evolution of electromagnetic waves in a weakly anisotropic inhomogeneous medium
• Maxwell-Schroedinger Equation for Polarized Light and Evolution of the Stokes Parameters
• Stokes-vector evolution in a weakly anisotropic inhomogeneous medium

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Geometric phases in 2D and 3D polarized fields: geometrical, dynamical, and topological aspects
• Observation of polarization singularities and topological textures in sound waves
• Topological features of vector vortex beams perturbed with uniformly polarized light
• Exceptional points in anisotropic planar microcavities
• Time reversal constraint limits unidirectional photon emission in slow-light photonic crystals
• Lorentz group theory and polarization of the light
• Transitivity in the theory of the Lorentz group and the Stokes -- Mueller formalism in optics
• Factorizations for 3-rotations and polarization of the light in Mueller-Stokes an Jones formalisms