Sc. Mcclain et al., POLARIZATION RAY-TRACING IN ANISOTROPIC OPTICALLY-ACTIVE MEDIA .1. ALGORITHMS, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A: Optics and image science, 10(11), 1993, pp. 2371-2382
Citations number
38
Categorie Soggetti
Optics
Journal title
Journal of the Optical Society of America. A: Optics and image science
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.