Changes in the state of polarization of a random electromagnetic beam on propagation

    Authors

    O. Korotkova;E. Wolf

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Opt. Commun.

    Keywords

    state of polarization; free space propagation; COHERENT GAUSSIAN-BEAM; ATMOSPHERIC-TURBULENCE; FREE-SPACE; MODEL; Optics

    Abstract

    We show that the state of polarization of the polarized portion of a random, statistically stationary, electromagnetic beam may change on propagation, even in free space. We derive analytic formulas for the orientation angle and for the magnitudes of the major and of the minor axes of the polarization ellipse in terms of the elements of the 2 x 2 cross-spectral density matrix of the electric field. We also obtain conditions for the invariance of the state of polarization on propagation. We illustrate the results by a numerical example relating to an electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Optics Communications

    Volume

    246

    Issue/Number

    1-3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2005

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    35

    Last Page

    43

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000226896600007

    ISSN

    0030-4018

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