2010/01/19 by B. Neethi Simon, Sudhavathani Simon, N. Mukunda +4 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · Materials Science · #Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements
paper · doi:10.1364/josaa.27.000188
openalex publication_date 2010/01/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The Mueller-Stokes formalism that governs conventional polarization optics is formulated for plane waves, and thus the only qualification one could require of a 4 x 4 real matrix M in order that it qualify to be the Mueller matrix of some physical system would be that M map Omega((pol)), the positive solid light cone of Stokes vectors, into itself. In view of growing current interest in the characterization of partially coherent partially polarized electromagnetic beams, there is a need to extend this formalism to such beams wherein the polarization and spatial dependence are generically inseparably intertwined. This inseparability brings in additional constraints that a pre-Mueller matrix M mapping Omega((pol)) into itself needs to meet in order to be an acceptable physical Mueller matrix. These additional constraints are motivated and fully characterized.