On three-dimensional polarization states of light

José J Gil¹, Andreas Norrman^2,3, Tero Setälä³ and Ari T Friberg^3
1Department of Applied Physics, University of Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
²Photonics Laboratory, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
³Institute of Photonics, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

As the electric field vector of a monochromatic optical field oscillates in a plane, truly three-dimensional polarization states of light necessitate polychromatic fields. We consider random three-dimensional polarization states, and employing the characteristic decomposition of the spectral polarization matrix we assess various physical properties of such light states. These properties include polarimetric purity (degree of polarization), the concept and measure of nonregularity, apparent dimensionality, spin angular momentum, and various anisotropies of the state. Polarization states endowed with these features are typically encountered in connection with fluctuating vectorial evanescent waves and highly focused random fields. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Polarized light, Degree of polarization, Nonregularity, Dimensionality.

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