Polarization (System Explorer)

These Polarization features are available in the System Explorer.  The controls in this section set the default input polarization state for many sequential analysis computations which use polarization ray tracing. For sequential analysis features such as Spot Diagrams and RMS vs. Field that support the "Use Polarization" switch to enable polarization ray tracing and apodization, this is the only method to set the initial polarization state.

When the Unpolarized option is checked in the System Explorer and a polarized calculation is run, for example Huygens PSF with Use Polarization selected, then two rays with orthogonal polarizations, (Jx,Jy) = (1,0) and (0,1), are traced separately through the system and the intensities are averaged when calculating the transmission. The information about the electric fields for the two separate polarizations is lost when the results are averaged.

For most (but not all) sequential analysis features, the polarization ray trace is only used to determine the transmitted intensity of the ray while accounting for Fresnel, thin film, and bulk absorption effects. The rays are attenuated in intensity and a weighted computation is performed. Polarization phase aberrations and the vectorial nature of polarization are ignored.

Some features consider not only transmission, but also the separate orthogonal vector components of the polarized light, and polarization phase aberrations (these polarization aberrations can be calculated using the polarization phase aberration plot. For details, search the help files for "Phase Aberration"). The Huygens PSF and PSF Cross Section, Huygens MTF, and Encircled Energy using the Huygens PSF all consider the full polarization vector and polarization phase aberrations. These computations work by computing data for the Ex, Ey, and Ez components of the polarized electric field separately, then incoherently summing the results. The polarization phase aberrations induced in each orthogonal component of the electric field are considered as any other phase aberration. For a discussion of how Physical Optics Propagation considers polarization, search the help files for "Accounting for polarization".

To define the polarization state of non-sequential sources, see the "Sources" section of the Object Properties (non-sequential component editor)

Next:

• Convert Thin Film Phase to Ray Equivalent:
• Unpolarized:
• Jx, Jy, X-Phase, Y-Phase:
• Method (polarization):
• Polarization Analysis
• Review of Polarization Concepts
• Defining the Initial Polarization
• Defining Polarizing Components
• What OpticStudio Can Compute Using Polarization Analysis