Related papers: Perfect polarization for arbitrary light beams
We comprehensively review the quantum theory of the polarization properties of light. In classical optics, these traits are characterized by the Stokes parameters, which can be geometrically interpreted using the Poincar\'e sphere.…
We present a complete polarization characterization of any quantum state of two orthogonal polarization modes, and give a systematic measurement procedure to collect the necessary data. Full characterization requires measurements of the…
Polarization is one of light's most versatile degrees of freedom for both classical and quantum applications. The ability to measure light's state of polarization and changes therein is thus essential; this is the science of polarimetry. It…
We discuss different proposals for the degree of polarization of quantum fields. The simplest approach, namely making a direct analogy with the classical description via the Stokes operators, is known to produce unsatisfactory results.…
The degree of polarization of a quantum state can be defined as its Hilbert-Schmidt distance to the set of unpolarized states. We demonstrate that the states optimizing this degree for a fixed average number of photons $\bar{N}$ present a…
Polarization of light is one of the fundamental concepts in optics. There are many ways to measure and characterise this feature of light but at the fundamental level it is quantum mechanics that imposes ultimate limits to such…
We formulate the classical polarization theory for light by using entanglement analysis. We demonstrate a route to a systematic and consistent measure of ordinary light polarization that extends automatically to a new understanding of the…
We present a moment expansion method for the systematic characterization of the polarization properties of quantum states of light. Specifically, we link the method to the measurements of the Stokes operator in different directions on the…
We analyze the strength of polarization correlations between two light beams that can be achieved in the semiclassical regime using statistical mixtures of coherent states and binary on/off detectors. Under certain symmetry assumptions, the…
The Stokes-parameter operators and the associated Poincare sphere, which describe the quantum-optical polarization properties of light, are defined and their basic properties are reviewed. The general features of the Stokes operators are…
According to quantum theory, two ensembles of quantum systems that are described by the same density operator are indistinguishable. For example, unpolarized light can be obtained either by an incoherent mixture of two orthogonal pure…
Polarization of light signifies transversal, anisotropic and asymmetrical statistical property of electromagnetic radiation about direction of propagation. Traditionally, optical-polarization is characterized by Stokes theory susceptible to…
The preparation of completely non-polarized light is seemingly easy: an everyday example is sunlight. The task is much more difficult if light has to be in a pure quantum state, as required by most quantum-technology applications. The pure…
We review a few useful concepts about polarization measurements in the quantum domain. Using a perfectly general formalism, we show how to build the quantum counterpart of some classical quantities like Stokes parameters and Mueller…
Classical definition of degree of polarization is expressed in quantum domain by replacing intensities through quantum mechanical average values of relevant number operators and is viewed as first generalization of Intensity. This…
It is well established that unpolarized light is invariant with respect to any SU(2) polarization transformation. This requirement fully characterizes the set of density matrices representing unpolarized states. We introduce the degree of…
Quantum descriptions of polarization show the rich degrees of freedom underlying classical light. While changes in polarization of light are well-described classically, a full quantum description of polarimetry, which characterizes…
When polarized light is absorbed by an atom, the excited atomic system carries information about the initial polarization of light. For the light that carries an orbital angular momentum, or the twisted light, the polarization states are…
We present experimental results on a method to perform polarimetry on ensembles of single photons. Our setup is based on a measurement method known to be optimal for estimating the state of two level systems. The setup has no moving parts…
The properties of coherence and polarization of light has been the subject of intense investigations and form the basis of many technological applications. These concepts which historically have been treated independently can now be…