Course Description:

Polarized Light and Optical Systems surveys polarization effects in optical systems. The fundamental tool for imaging system design is ray tracing. For polarization critical systems this is generalized to polarization ray tracing which propagates Jones vectors and Stokes parameters through polarizing interfaces. Polarization elements and effects, including retardance and diattenuation (for polarizers), are traced with Jones matrices and their 3D analog Polarization Ray Tracing (PRT) for ray tracing calculations and coherent (interferometric) analysis. Mueller matrices are used for incoherent calculations and for most optical system polarization metrology, for example to compare systems with polarization specifications. Examples of PRT are shown for the most common and important polarization effects: polarizer and retarder films, multilayer isotropic thin films, anisotropic materials and films, anisotropic multilayers, liquid crystals, diffractive optical elements, stress birefringence, and uniaxial and biaxial crystals. The resulting polarization patterns are analyzed as polarization aberrations, which adversely affect many optical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). For example, the PSF becomes a Point Spread Matrix and the MTF or OTF becomes an Optical Transfer Matrix.

This course will enable you to:

• Understand fundamentals of polarized light and polarization elements in optical systems

• Interpret and apply Jones and Mueller matrices

• Analyze polarized light propagation in 3D

• Classify Fresnel effects, thin films, and polarization aberrations

• Predict image formation with different incident polarizations

• Characterize polarization properties of films, diffractive elements, gratings, and wire grid polarizers

• Identify and measure stress birefringence

• Understand polarization compensation in liquid crystal cellsE

• valuate optical systems using polarization ray tracing and aberration analysis

Software:

Airy’s Polaris-M software will be utilized during the short course to interactively demonstrate polarization analysis and ray tracing techniques. If you would like to follow along during the course and continue exploring afterward, you can request a complimentary 1-month trial license by filling out the trial request form for this event below. After submitting the form, someone from Airy Optics will contact you with your trial license details.

Please note that Polaris-M requires a valid installation of Mathematica on your system. If you do not already have Mathematica installed, you can request a free trial license at: https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/trial/