Polarimetric characterization of light and media

Abstract

An analysis of the matrix models representing the polarimetric properties of light and material media is carried out by using the concept of the coherency matrix, which leads to the identification and definition of their corresponding physical quantities. For light, cases of homogeneous and inhomogeneous wavefront are analyzed, and a model for 3D polarimetric purity is formulated. For linear passive material media, a general model is developed on the basis that any physically realizable linear transformation of Stokes vectors is equivalent to an ensemble average of passive, deterministic, nondepolarizing transformations. Through this framework, the relevant physical quantities, including the indices of polarimetric purity, are identified and decoupled. Some decompositions of the whole system into a set of well-defined components are considered, as well as techniques for isolating the unknown components by means of new procedures for subtracting coherency matrices. These results and methods constitute a powerful tool for analyzing and exploiting experimental and industrial polarimetry. Some particular application examples are indicated.

Review paper originally published in Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 40, 1-47 (2007). Revised and commented by the author. February, 2020. 84 pages, 12 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Polarimetric characterization of light and media
• Interpretation of the coherency matrix for three-dimensional polarization states
• A three-dimensional degree of polarization based on Rayleigh scattering
• A POVM view of the ensemble approach to polarization optics

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Polarimetric characterization of light and media
• Interpretation of the coherency matrix for three-dimensional polarization states
• Classical distinguishability as an operational measure of polarization
• Practical schemes for the measurement of angular-momentum covariance matrices in quantum optics
• Coherency vector formalism for polarimetric transformations
• Retarding parallel components of a Mueller matrix
• Degrees of mutual coherence of a 3D polarization state
• Non-quantum entanglement and a complete characterization of pre-Mueller and Mueller matrices in polarization optics