LIGHT-SCATTERING FROM AN OPTICALLY-ACTIVE SPHERE INTO A CIRCULAR APERTURE

To show how apertures affect measurements of the circularly polarized components of light scattered to a detector, we develop two methods of averaging the V and I Stokes parameters over a circular aperture that collects light scattered from an optically active sphere. One method uses a two-dimensional numerical integration that is appropriate for s mall apertures, and the other gives analytical expressions for scatter ing into a solid angle of any size. We identify the aperture locations that, independent of aperture size, give an average V land an effecti ve degree of circular polarization) of zero for scattering from an opt ically inactive sphere and of nonzero for scattering from an optically active sphere. OCIS codes: 010.1110, 260.2110, 260.5430, 290.0290, 29 0.4020.