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Jones Vectors and Matrices

This document discusses Jones vectors and matrices for describing the polarization of light. It provides examples of Jones vectors for different polarization states including linear, circular, and elliptical polarization. It also describes how common optical elements like polarizers and wave plates can be represented by Jones matrices, and how these matrices can be multiplied to analyze the effect of multiple elements on light polarization.

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367 views3 pages

Jones Vectors and Matrices

This document discusses Jones vectors and matrices for describing the polarization of light. It provides examples of Jones vectors for different polarization states including linear, circular, and elliptical polarization. It also describes how common optical elements like polarizers and wave plates can be represented by Jones matrices, and how these matrices can be multiplied to analyze the effect of multiple elements on light polarization.

Uploaded by

fawazmousselly
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jones Vectors and Matrices



Physics 4150
November 1, 2010

If we confine ourselves only to plane waves with a well-defined polarization state, a two-
component Jones vector is sufficient to fully describe the polarization. To describe the general
case of partially polarized light, its necessary to use 4-vectors, such as the Stokes parameters or
the Mueller matrices that correspond to them. We will not discuss these 4-vectors in Physics
4150, but there is a brief account in Chapter 8 of Hecht.

A. Jones Vectors

For propagation of a plane wave in the z direction, we can write

0
( )
0

, with an implied .
x
y
i
x
i kz t
i
y
E e
e
E e
|
e
|

| |
= |
|
\ .
E (1)
Note that the phase convention is the opposite of our usual one: kz et rather than et kz.

Sometimes the amplitudes are of interest and should be kept. But if only the polarization state is
of interest, we can normalize this vector,
2

1. = E For convenience the top entry is often chosen


to be real, since usually only the phase difference between the x- and y-components is of interest.

For linear polarization at an angle o from the x-axis, the x- and y-components are in phase and
the Jones vector can be written as


cos

.
sin
o
o
| |
=
|
\ .
E (2)



For circular polarization we have E
0x
= E
0y
, but there is a phase shift of t/2:


rcp lcp
1 1
1 1

, .
2 2
i i
| | | |
= =
| |

\ . \ .
E E (3)
Its easy to verify that if we have equal amounts of rcp and lcp light, we recover linear x-
polarization:
1 1 1
1 2
= linear polarization along .
0
2 2
i i
+
| | | |
=
| |
+
\ . \ .
x
Finally, for general elliptical polarization we have, if A>0 and C>0,

left left

( ) , ( ) .
A A
norm norm
B iC B iC
| | | |
= =
| |
+
\ . \ .
E E (4)
2
A. Jones Matrices

Any optical element that causes a linear transformation can be described by a 2 2 matrix .
The polarization state after n such elements can be found by multiplying the initial Jones vector
by the matrices for all of the elements, ordered from right to left:


.
final inc
= E E
n n-1 2 1
A A A A (5)
Its easy to find the Jones matrix for a linear polarizer (vertical):

0
, since (linear along ).
0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1
A
B B
| | | || | | |
=
| | | |
\ . \ .\ . \ .
y A= (6)
For a linear polarizer with its axis at an arbitrary angle u,

2
2
.
cos sin cos
sin cos sin
u
u
u u
u u
| |
|
\ .
A= (7)
For a phase plate or retarder, in general,
.
0
0
x
y
i
i
e
e
c
c
| |
|
|
\ .
A= (8)
For a quarter-wave plate,

.
Fast axis horizontal: .
1 0
Fast axis vertical:
0
1 0
0
i
i
t
t
| |
|
\ .
| |
|
\ .

i /4
-i /4
A= e
A= e
(9)
For a half-wave plate,

.
Fast axis horizontal: .
1 0
Fast axis vertical:
0 1
1 0
0 1
t
t
| |
|
\ .
| |
|
\ .

i /2
-i /2
A= e
A= e
(10)
For a rotator, which can describe either polarization rotation by o or coordinate rotation by o,
.
cos sin
:
sin cos
o o
u u o
o o
| |
|
\ .

+ A= (11)
3
Example 1: Start with linear polarization at o, then pass it through a half-wave plate with its fast
axis vertical:


cos cos
(linear, but now at angle - ).
sin sin
1 0

0 1
t t
o o
o
o o
| || | | |
=
| | |

\ .\ . \ .

E
i /2 i /2
= e e
This verifies that the wave plate rotates linear polarization by 2o, as expected. To see this expli-
citly, pass the output through a linear polarizer oriented at angle o (ignoring the overall phase
factor, which is irrelevant), and show that there is full transmission:

2 3 2
2 2
2 2 3
cos cos cos cos sin
=(cos sin ) .
sin sin sin cos sin
cos sin cos

sin cos sin


o o o o o o
o o
o o o o o o
o o
o o
| | | | + | | | |
= +
| | | |

\ . \ . \ . \ .

E=

Example 2: Derive Eq. 7 on the previous page, for a linear polarizer oriented at an angle o. We
can do this by applying an initial rotation of o, which corresponds to rotating the coordinate
system by o. Then apply a linear polarizer oriented along x, and finish by rotating by o, back to
the original coordinates:

2
2
=
cos sin 1 0 cos sin cos sin cos sin
sin cos 0 0 sin cos sin cos 0 0
cos cos sin
cos sin sin
o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o
o o o
o o
| || || | | || |
=
| | | | |
\ .\ .\ . \ .\ .

.
o
| |
|
\ .

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