Polarized Light and Optical Systems

Polarized Light and Optical Systems presents polarization optics for undergraduate and graduate students in a way which makes classroom teaching relevant to current issues in optical engineering. This curriculum has been developed and refined for a decade and a half at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences. Polarized Light and Optical Systems provides a reference for the optical engineer and optical designer in issues related to building polarimeters, designing displays, and polarization critical optical systems. The central theme of Polarized Light and Optical Systems is a unifying treatment of polarization elements as optical elements and optical elements as polarization elements.

Key FeaturesComprehensive presentation of Jones calculus and Mueller calculus with tables and derivations of the Jones and Mueller matrices for polarization elements and polarization effects

Classroom-appropriate presentations of polarization of birefringent materials, thin films, stress birefringence, crystal polarizers, liquid crystals, and gratings

Discussion of the many forms of polarimeters, their trade-offs, data reduction methods, and polarization artifacts

Exposition of the polarization ray tracing calculus to integrate polarization with ray tracing

Explanation of the sources of polarization aberrations in optical systems and the functional forms of these polarization aberrations

Problem sets to build students’ problem-solving capabilities.