When I was taking Optics course, I found there were several questions about polarization of light. I use the textbook of Hecht.
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It seems that the definition of degree of polarization may be not so well-defined if $V=\frac{I_{max}-I_{min}}{I_{max}+I_{min}}$. For a elliptical polarized light, there is no natural polarized part, but still $V\neq 0$.
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I found it hard to deal with partially polarized light. First the definition. What is the definition of partially polarized light? Light with $0<V<1$?
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Is all partially polarized light can be presented by the superposition of a plane polarized light and a natural light? I suppose it is true but why? Is there any formal explanation?
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Consider a real problem. Suppose there is a beam of light incident on an air-glass interface with $n_{ti}=1.5$ at a certain degree, say $30°$. Then how to characterize the reflected light or the transmitted light since they are all partially polarized. What is $V$ for these lights? I gauss the answer may be $V=\frac{|r_p|^2-|r_s|^2}{|r_p|^2+|r_s|^2}$. But I can't convince my self why this correspondes to the definition above. (This is essentially a problem in Hecht.)
Thanks a lot! I am really confused with that.
Best Answer
Here is some possibly useful information from Goodman's "Statistical Optics." (Sorry about the lack of symbol quality -- so much for cut/paste from a PDF)
Later, in section 4.3.3,
I'd recommend reading section 4.3 in its entirety.