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Stokes Sphere
The Stokes parameters are a set of values that describe the Polarization (waves), polarization state of electromagnetic radiation. They were defined by George Gabriel Stokes in 1851, as a mathematically convenient alternative to the more common description of coherence (physics), incoherent or partially polarized radiation in terms of its total Intensity (physics), intensity (''I''), (fractional) degree of polarization (''p''), and the shape parameters of the polarization ellipse. The effect of an optical system on the polarization of light can be determined by constructing the Stokes vector for the input light and applying Mueller calculus, to obtain the Stokes vector of the light leaving the system. They can be determined from directly observable phenomena. The original Stokes paper was discovered independently by Francis Perrin (physicist), Francis Perrin in 1942 and by Subrahamanyan Chandrasekhar in 1947, who named it as the Stokes parameters. Definitions The relationship of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polarisation Ellipse
Polarization or polarisation may refer to: Mathematics *Polarization of an Abelian variety, in the mathematics of complex manifolds *Polarization of an algebraic form, a technique for expressing a homogeneous polynomial in a simpler fashion by adjoining more variables *Polarization identity, expresses an inner product in terms of its associated norm * Polarization (Lie algebra) Physical sciences *Polarization (physics), the ability of waves to oscillate in more than one direction; polarization of light allows the glare-reducing effect of polarized sunglasses **Polarization (antenna), the state of polarization (in the above sense) of electromagnetic waves transmitted by or received by a radio antenna *Dielectric polarization, charge separation in insulating materials: **Polarization density, volume dielectric polarization ** Dipolar polarization, orientation of permanent dipoles ** Ionic polarization, displacement of ions in a crystal **Maxwell–Wagner–Sillars polarization, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jones Vectors
In optics, polarized light can be described using the Jones calculus, invented by R. C. Jones in 1941. Polarized light is represented by a Jones vector, and linear optical elements are represented by ''Jones matrices''. When light crosses an optical element the resulting polarization of the emerging light is found by taking the product of the Jones matrix of the optical element and the Jones vector of the incident light. Note that Jones calculus is only applicable to light that is already fully polarized. Light which is randomly polarized, partially polarized, or incoherent must be treated using Mueller calculus. Jones vector The Jones vector describes the polarization of light in free space or another homogeneous isotropic non-attenuating medium, where the light can be properly described as transverse waves. Suppose that a monochromatic plane wave of light is travelling in the positive ''z''-direction, with angular frequency ''ω'' and wave vector k = (0,0,''k''), where the wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semi-minor Axis
In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the longest semidiameter or one half of the major axis, and thus runs from the centre, through a focus, and to the perimeter. The semi-minor axis (minor semiaxis) of an ellipse or hyperbola is a line segment that is at right angles with the semi-major axis and has one end at the center of the conic section. For the special case of a circle, the lengths of the semi-axes are both equal to the radius of the circle. The length of the semi-major axis of an ellipse is related to the semi-minor axis's length through the eccentricity and the semi-latus rectum \ell, as follows: The semi-major axis of a hyperbola is, depending on the convention, plus or minus one half of the distance between the two branches. Thus it is the distance from the cente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellipse
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focus (geometry), focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in which the two focal points are the same. The elongation of an ellipse is measured by its eccentricity (mathematics), eccentricity e, a number ranging from e = 0 (the Limiting case (mathematics), limiting case of a circle) to e = 1 (the limiting case of infinite elongation, no longer an ellipse but a parabola). An ellipse has a simple algebraic solution for its area, but for Perimeter of an ellipse, its perimeter (also known as circumference), Integral, integration is required to obtain an exact solution. The largest and smallest diameters of an ellipse, also known as its width and height, are typically denoted and . An ellipse has four extreme points: two ''Vertex (geometry), vertices'' at the endpoints of the major axis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Degeneracy (mathematics)
In mathematics, a degenerate case is a limiting case of a class of objects which appears to be qualitatively different from (and usually simpler than) the rest of the class; "degeneracy" is the condition of being a degenerate case. The definitions of many classes of composite or structured objects often implicitly include inequalities. For example, the angles and the side lengths of a triangle are supposed to be positive. The limiting cases, where one or several of these inequalities become equalities, are degeneracies. In the case of triangles, one has a ''degenerate triangle'' if at least one side length or angle is zero. Equivalently, it becomes a "line segment". Often, the degenerate cases are the exceptional cases where changes to the usual dimension or the cardinality of the object (or of some part of it) occur. For example, a triangle is an object of dimension two, and a degenerate triangle is contained in a line, which makes its dimension one. This is similar to the cas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phase (waves)
In physics and mathematics, the phase (symbol φ or ϕ) of a wave or other periodic function F of some real variable t (such as time) is an angle-like quantity representing the fraction of the cycle covered up to t. It is expressed in such a scale that it varies by one full turn as the variable t goes through each period (and F(t) goes through each complete cycle). It may be measured in any angular unit such as degrees or radians, thus increasing by 360° or 2\pi as the variable t completes a full period. This convention is especially appropriate for a sinusoidal function, since its value at any argument t then can be expressed as \varphi(t), the sine of the phase, multiplied by some factor (the amplitude of the sinusoid). (The cosine may be used instead of sine, depending on where one considers each period to start.) Usually, whole turns are ignored when expressing the phase; so that \varphi(t) is also a periodic function, with the same period as F, that repeatedly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basis (linear Algebra)
In mathematics, a Set (mathematics), set of elements of a vector space is called a basis (: bases) if every element of can be written in a unique way as a finite linear combination of elements of . The coefficients of this linear combination are referred to as components or coordinates of the vector with respect to . The elements of a basis are called . Equivalently, a set is a basis if its elements are linearly independent and every element of is a linear combination of elements of . In other words, a basis is a linearly independent spanning set. A vector space can have several bases; however all the bases have the same number of elements, called the dimension (vector space), dimension of the vector space. This article deals mainly with finite-dimensional vector spaces. However, many of the principles are also valid for infinite-dimensional vector spaces. Basis vectors find applications in the study of crystal structures and frame of reference, frames of reference. De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Field
An electric field (sometimes called E-field) is a field (physics), physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles such as electrons. In classical electromagnetism, the electric field of a single charge (or group of charges) describes their capacity to exert attractive or repulsive forces on another charged object. Charged particles exert attractive forces on each other when the sign of their charges are opposite, one being positive while the other is negative, and repel each other when the signs of the charges are the same. Because these forces are exerted mutually, two charges must be present for the forces to take place. These forces are described by Coulomb's law, which says that the greater the magnitude of the charges, the greater the force, and the greater the distance between them, the weaker the force. Informally, the greater the charge of an object, the stronger its electric field. Similarly, an electric field is stronger nearer charged objects and weaker f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complex Amplitude
In physics and engineering, a phasor (a portmanteau of phase vector) is a complex number representing a sinusoidal function whose amplitude and initial phase are time-invariant and whose angular frequency is fixed. It is related to a more general concept called analytic representation,Bracewell, Ron. ''The Fourier Transform and Its Applications''. McGraw-Hill, 1965. p269 which decomposes a sinusoid into the product of a complex constant and a factor depending on time and frequency. The complex constant, which depends on amplitude and phase, is known as a phasor, or complex amplitude, and (in older texts) sinor or even complexor. A common application is in the steady-state analysis of an electrical network powered by time varying current where all signals are assumed to be sinusoidal with a common frequency. Phasor representation allows the analyst to represent the amplitude and phase of the signal using a single complex number. The only difference in their analytic rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
