Related papers: Looking to the Blue Sky with Colored Patterns
Birefringence, the polarization-dependent splitting of light in anisotropic crystals, enables diverse optical phenomena and advanced functionalities such as optical communication, nonlinear optics, and quantum optics. However, conventional…
We study theoretically the polarization state of light in multiple scattering media in the limit of weak gradients in refractive index. Linearly polarized photons are randomly rotated due to the Berry phase associated with the scattering…
Optics labs are an integral part of the advanced curriculum for physics majors. Students majoring in other disciplines, like chemistry, biology or engineering rarely have the opportunity to learn about the most recent optical techniques and…
Polarimetry in the far-infrared and submillimeter has been valuable in tracing magnetic fields in bright Galactic Clouds. We discuss the techniques we have developed and trends we have found in polarization vs column density, and vs…
We describe how the observed polarization properties of an astronomical object are related to its intrinsic polarization properties and the finite temporal and spectral resolutions of the observing device. Moreover, we discuss the effect…
We present a new method to identify and probe planetary companions of stars in the Galactic Bulge and Magellanic Clouds using gravitational microlensing. While spectroscopic studies of these planets is well beyond current observational…
For the majority of optical observing programs, the sky brightness provides the fundamental limit to signal detection such that the scientific feasibility is largely dictated by the moon phase. Since most observatories do not have the…
Evolved late-type stars are frequently identified as photometric and spectroscopic variables, such as Mira-type or semi-regular variable objects. These stars can also be polarimetrically variable, an indicator of non-spherical geometry for…
Context. The discovery of an extrasolar planet with an ocean has crucial importance in the search for life beyond Earth. The polarimetric detection of specularly reflected light from a smooth liquid surface is anticipated theoretically,…
Specularly reflected light, or glint, from an ocean surface may provide a useful observational tool for studying extrasolar terrestrial planets. Detection of sea-surface glints would differentiate ocean-bearing terrestrial planets, i.e.…
The gravitational microlensing as a unique astrophysical tool can be used for studying the atmosphere of stars thousands of parsec far from us. This capability results from the bending of light rays in the gravitational field of a lens…
Telescopes often modify the input polarization of a source so that the measured circular or linear output state of the optical signal can be signficantly different from the input. This mixing, or polarization "cross-talk", is defined by the…
Spatial field correlation functions represent a key quantity for the description of mesoscopic phenomena in disordered media and the optical characterization of complex materials. Yet many aspects related to the vector nature of light waves…
A relativistic analysis of the polarization properties of light elastically scattered by atomic hydrogen is performed, based on the Dirac equation and second order perturbation theory. The relativistic atomic states used for the…
We observe the polarization squeezing in the mixture of a two mode squeezed vacuum and a simple coherent light through a linear polarization beam splitter. Squeezed vacuum not being squeezed in polarization, generates polarization squeezed…
The scattering of polarized light incident from one dielectric medium on its two-dimensional randomly rough interface with a second dielectric medium is studied. A reduced Rayleigh equation for the scattering amplitudes is derived for the…
In this paper, we study the problem of reproducing the world lighting from a single image of an object covered with random specular microfacets on the surface. We show that such reflectors can be interpreted as a randomized mapping from the…
Collective coherent scattering of laser light by an ensemble of polarizable point particles creates long range interactions, whose properties can be tailored by choice of injected laser powers, frequencies and polarizations. We use a…
We present a technique for studying the polarimetric properties of a birefringent object by means of classical ghost diffraction. The standard ghost diffraction setup is modified to include polarizers for controlling the state of…
Polarized light microscopy provides high contrast to birefringent specimen and is widely used as a diagnostic tool in pathology. However, polarization microscopy systems typically operate by analyzing images collected from two or more light…