This course provides a survey of issues associated with calculating polarization effects in optical systems using optical design programs. Many optical systems are polarization critical and require careful attention to polarization issues. Such systems include liquid crystal projectors, imaging with active laser illumination, very high numerical aperture optical systems in microlithography and data storage, DVD players, imaging into tissue and turbid media, optical coherence tomography, and interferometers. Polarization effects are complex: retardance has three degrees of freedom, diattenuation (partial polarization) has three degrees of freedom, and depolarization, the coupling of polarized into partially polarized light, has nine degrees of freedom. Due to this complexity, polarization components and the polarization performance of optical systems are rarely completely specified. The polarization aberrations introduced by thin films and uniaxial crystals can be readily evaluated in several commercial optical design codes. These routines are complex and most optical engineers are unfamiliar with the capabilities and the forms of output. But these polarization ray tracing routines provide better methods to communicate polarization performance and specifications between different groups teamed on complex optical problems. Better means of technical communication speed the development of complex systems.

Polarized Light and Optical Systems surveys polarization effects in optical systems and their simulation by polarization ray tracing. For many optical systems, selecting good combinations of polarization elements is very difficult, requiring man-years of dedicated polarization engineering. Polarization critical optical systems, such as liquid crystal displays, VR and AR optics, and microlithography, present polarization challenges with difficult specifications. Polarization engineering is the task of designing, fabricating, testing, and mass producing with high yield, such polarization critical optical systems. Surveying the fundamentals of polarized light and properties of polarization elements, provides a foundation for understanding polarization ray tracing, simulating the nearly spherical waves in imaging systems to model the large set of polarization effects which occur: polarization elements, Fresnel equations, thin films, anisotropic materials, polarizing films, diffractive optical elements, stress birefringence, and thin films. The resulting polarization aberrations adversely affect the point spread function/matrix and optical transfer function/matrix of image forming optical systems. Polarization ray tracing examples include systems with retarders, crystal polarizers, vortex retarders, stress birefringence, fold mirrors, and lenses.

This course provides an overview of polarization issues in high-speed fiber systems. Practical descriptions are provided for all the polarization properties: retardance, diattenuation (polarization dependent loss), and depolarization. Polarimetric methods for characterizing fiber components and systems as polarization elements are presented. For those seeking additional preparation in polarization, SC206 <i>A Practical Introduction to Polarized Light</i> by Robert A. Fisher and SC530 <i>Polarization for Engineers<i> by Russell Chipman introduce the concepts used in this course.

This course is an overview of polarization elements and properties of optical components. Practical descriptions are provided for retardance, diattenuation (polarization dependent loss), and depolarization. Polarizers and retarders are introduced and their principal uses explained. Polarimetric methods for measuring polarization elements are presented and described in detail with examples from experimental studies. The nonideal properties of polarization elements are discussed with particular emphasis on the properties of polarizing beam splitters based on experimental studies. Methods for depolarizing light are covered in detail. Course SC206, "A Practical Introduction to Polarized Light", R. Fisher provides an excellent background for this course.

This course provides an introductory survey of polarization from an engineering perspective. The emphasis is on the practical aspects of polarization elements needed to design and understand optical systems and polarization measurements. The basic mathematics of the Jones calculus, Poincare sphere, Stokes vectors, and Mueller matrices are presented and applied to describe polarized light and polarization elements. Practical descriptions and measurement methods are provided for all the polarization properties. Polarizers and retarders are introduced and their principal uses explained. The nonideal characteristics of polarization elements are discussed with examples. Methods for depolarizing light with depolarizers are covered. Familiarity with basic linear algebra (i. e. matrix multiplication) is assumed.