Representation Of Polarized Light In Jones Calculus

Representation of polarized light in Jones calculus: Sometimes, for convenience, equation

can also be written in terms of complex exponential form

................................ (1)

quation (6) can be written in terms of column vector notation

...............................(2)

The column vector, in eq 2 is called as Jones vector J of light wave.

In this notation, jones vector for a light polarized along x axis only is written as

...............................................................(3)

and the light polarized along y axis only is given by

................................................................(4)

A linearly polarized light making an angle of 45 with x-axis can be written as ( )

..................................................................(5)

Superposition of two different polarized wave :

Consider a situation where light field given by eq 1 and eq2 both are present,

Then the resultant field is given by

......(6)

If then above equation is

....................................................(7)

If than above equation (11) is

.......................................................(8)

Eq. (7) and eq. (8) represent a plane polarized light. Thus if two plane (or linearly) polarized waves of same frequency and having a phase difference in the multiple of p are superimposed, they result into a plane polarized wave only.