2025/05/22 by Kayn A. Forbes, Forbes, Kayn A., Davıd L. Andrews +1 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Near-Field Optical Microscopy #Optics (physics.optics) #Photonic Crystals and Applications #Photonic and Optical Devices
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.16541
openalex publication_date 2025/05/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/19 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
For paraxial light beams and electromagnetic fields, the Stokes vector and polarization matrix provide equivalent scalar measures of optical chirality, widely used in linear optics. However, growing interest in non-paraxial fields, with fully three-dimensional polarization components, necessitates an extended framework. Here, we develop a general theory for characterizing optical chirality in arbitrary electromagnetic fields, formulated through extensions of the polarization matrix approach. This framework applies to both near- and far-field optical helicity and chirality. As examples, we demonstrate its relevance to near-zone fields from chiral dipole emission and the focal plane of tightly focused beams.