Field Guide to Polarization

Download or read book Field Guide to Polarization written by Edward Collett and published by Society of Photo Optical. This book was released on 2005 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The polarization of light is one of the most remarkable phenomena in nature and has led to numerous discoveries and applications. The nature and mathematical formulation of unpolarized light and partially polarized light were not readily forthcoming until the 1950s, when questions about polarized light and the mathematical tools to deal with it began to be addressed in earnest. As a result, there is a very good understanding of polarized light today. The primary objective of this guide is to provide an introduction to the developments in polarized light that have taken place over the past half-century, and present the most salient topics of the subject matter such as Mueller matrices, Stokes polarization parameters, and Jones matrices.