POLARIZATION RAY-TRACING IN ANISOTROPIC OPTICALLY-ACTIVE MEDIA .1. ALGORITHMS

Procedures for performing polarization ray tracing through birefringen t media are presented in a form compatible with the standard methods o f geometrical ray tracing. The birefringent materials treated include the following: anisotropic optically active materials such as quartz, non-optically active uniaxial materials such as calcite, and isotropic optically active materials such as mercury sulfide and organic liquid s. Refraction and reflection algorithms are presented that compute bot h ray directions and wave directions. Methods for computing polarizati on modes, refractive indices, optical path lengths, and Fresnel transm ission and reflection coefficients are also specified. A numerical exa mple of these algorithms is given for analyzing the field of view of a quartz rotator.