Polarizer Surface V2.0

With Polarizer Surface, you can model a perfect polarizer as well as any plate that can be described by a Jones matrix.

As the software is propagating the polarization with their rays, it may be useful to know about the polarization of a beam or to create a beam with a linear polarization.

The coordinates of the X and Y axis of the polarizer in the global axis system, and the Jones Matrix defined in the X and Y base are stored in a .polarizer file. This means that if you rotate the surface on which you apply the polarizer, you have to rotate these vectors the same way. It is required that you keep these vectors in the plane of the surface.

File Format

Line 1

It is a header line. OPTIS - Polarizer surface file v2.0

Line 2

It is a comment line. My polarizer

Line 3

It is the X axis vector defined in the global axis system.


*-0.7071067*	*0.4673925*	*0.5306073*

Line 4

It is the Y axis vector. It has to be perpendicular to the X axis.


*0.6831709*	*0.2579829*	*0.6831709*

Note: X axis vector and Y axis vector do not need to be normalized. Vector length can be different than 1.

Line 5 and 6

It is the Jones Matrix defined in the X and Y base.


1	*(0,1)*
(*0,-1)*	0

Note: In case the Jones Matrix contains complex values, the convention is (a,b) with a the real part and b the imaginary part.

Note: Polarizer surface v2.0 are perfect. There is no loss of energy. Jones matrix are normalized for calculation.

Note: The angle between two axes should be minimum 45°.