Polarized Light and Polarimetry (3 units). Polarized light and the Poincare sphere. Polarization in natural scenes and animal vision. Polarization elements: polarizers, retarders, and depolarizers. Jones and Mueller polarization calculus. Polarimetry: measuring the polarization properties of optical elements and materials. Polarization modulators and controllers. Polarization dependent loss and polarization mode dispersion in fiber optics. Advanced polarization issues in optical devices and systems. Prerequisite: OPTI 501.

Meeting Times:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00-3:15 | Room 305

Instructor:
Russell A. Chipman, Professor
College of Optical Sciences, Room 737
The University of Arizona
1630 East University Boulevard, Meinel Building
Tucson,AZ 85721
Phone:520-626-9435 Fax:520-626-4599
Email: russell.chipman@optics.arizona.edu

Office Hours: Tues. 2:30 – 3:30 pm, Thur. 10:30 – 11:30 am

Course Outline:

• Polarization overview
  Polarization states. Polarization ellipse. Polarization elements. Diattenuation. Retardance. Depolarization. Partially polarized light.
  
  
• Polarized light in nature.
  Stokes polarimeters. Polarized, partially polarized, and unpolarized light. Black body polarization. Polarization of the sky. Polarization sensitivity in the human eye and animal eyes. Natural and manmade polarization signatures. Polarization of astronomical objects.
  
  
• Electromagnetic description of polarized light.
  Jones vectors. Stokes vectors. Poincare sphere. Coherence. Interference of polarized light.
  
  
• Polarization elements and polarization calculus.
  Polarizers. Retarders. Jones calculus. Mueller calculus. Diattenuation. Polarization dependent loss. Retardance. Birefringence. Dichroism. Optical activity. Polarization mode dispersion. Depolarization. Achromatic. Field of view effects.
  
  
• Polarimetry.
  Light measuring. Sample measuring. Spectropolarimetry. Imaging polarimetry. Ellipsometry. Fresnel equations.
  
  
• Polarization modulators.
  Electro-optic. Magneto-optic. Liquid crystal. Photo elastic. Complete vs. endless polarization control.
  
  
• Polarization aberrations.
  Polarization effects due to coatings and field of view effects in polarization components simulated during optical design. Generalization of the wavefront aberration function to polarization matrix functions. Polarization-dependent point spread functions and optical transfer functions.
  
  
• Polarization in fiber optic systems.
  Fiber polarization components. Isolators. Circulators. Polarization mode dispersion and its compensation.
  
  
• Special topics.
  Structure of Jones and Mueller calculus.

• Weekly homework assignments due one week later.
• Please put the problem number and your name on every page.

• Homework 50%
• In-class midterm 10%
• Projects 20%
• In-class final exam 20%

Goldstein, Dennis (2003). Polarized Light (2^nd ed.). Dekker. Order Form (PDF)

R. Chipman’s notes (two volumes):

• Jones and Mueller Calculus, Polarizers, Retarders, and Depolarizers
• Polarization Ray Tracing
• Polarization Issues for Fiber Telecommunications

Available at the EES Copy Center, Harvill 137

The notes are under continuous development and contain errors which I am interested in identifying and correcting. Please copy any pages with errors or with suggested improvements and bring to me or my mailbox. All your help is much appreciated by myself and future classes!

Brosseau, C. (1998). Fundamentals of Polarized Light . Wiley

Kliger, D., Lewis, J., and Randall, C. (1990). Polarized Light in Optics and Spectroscopy .

Azzam, R.M.A. and Bashara, N.M. (1977) Ellipsometry and Polarized Light (1^st ed.). North-Holland, Amsterdam
,br> Yeh, P. and Gu, C. (1999). Optics of Liquid Crystal Displays. Wiley & Sons

A kit with small polarizers and retarders will be distributed next week for performing home demonstrations and homework. Please keep in good shape and return the last week of classes.

Please procure a set of polarizing sunglasses for some of the homework problems.

Mathematica, from Wolfram Research: Mathematica is recommended for performing some of the more numerically intensive problems. Some Mathematica code will be distributed to assist with the class work.

Other programs such as Matlab are most acceptable for doing homework.

Code V was used in previous years for polarization ray tracing homework but will not be used this year.