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chapter 4, Representation of the Polarimetric State of a Beam
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Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
Chapter Contents
- 4.1 The Stokes Parameters
- 4.2 Stokes Vector Representation
- 4.3 Methods to Characterize and Interpret Stokes Vectors
- 4.4 Parameters of the Polarization Ellipse and the Poincaré Sphere
- References
Excerpt
In this chapter we introduce the Stokes parameters and the Stokes vector representation of a polarized beam. This representation is particularly important to us because it can be easily measured and is the most common way to represent a beam's propagation along a complex path such as we encounter in remote sensing. The Stokes representation is also important because it allows us to represent both fully and partially polarized beams. Our discussion in Chapter 3 presented ways to describe a beam in which all of the EM energy was polarized. For an unpolarized or randomly polarized beam, no preferred orientation or rotational behavior is associated with the electrical field. Most EM radiation is partially polarized and can be thought of as being composed of both an unpolarized component and a polarized component.
4.1 The Stokes Parameters
Recall from Eq. (3.27) that for a fully polarized beam, we can express the polarization ellipse as
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