Related papers: Looking to the Blue Sky with Colored Patterns
We present the results of a systematic observational campaign designed to search for microvariability in the optical polarization of BL Lac objects. We have observed a sample formed by 8 X-ray-selected and 10 radio-selected sources, looking…
Common transparent polymer films such as cellophane and household tape are frequently used as examples of birefringent materials in textbooks and classroom demonstrations. Qualitatively, birefringence is often demonstrated by layering such…
In this paper we propose a way to use optical polarisation observations to provide independent constraints and guide to the modelling of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of blazars, which is particularly useful when two-zone models…
Microlensing surveys have proven to be tremendously fruitful in providing valuable data products for many fields of astrophysics, from eclipse lightcurves for substellar candidates to limb darkening in stellar atmospheres. We report on a…
Our previous work has demonstrated that Rayleigh model, which is widely used in polarized skylight navigation to describe skylight polarization patterns, does not contain three-dimensional (3D) attitude information [1]. However, it is still…
Scattering of light from an anisotropic source produces linear polarization in spectral lines and the continuum. In the outer layers of a stellar atmosphere the anisotropy of the radiation field is typically dominated by the radiation…
Using the phenomena of linear and circular birefringence we propose a device that can alter general elliptical polarization of a beam by a predetermined amount, thereby allowing conversion between linearly-polarized light and circularly…
Most cosmic microwave background experiments observe the sky along circular or near-circular scans on the celestial sphere. For such experiments, we show that simple linear systems connect the Fourier spectra of temperature and polarization…
Using a scheme based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we propose an analysis of the superposition of polarized laser beams at a given angle. The focus of our study is the spatially varying polarization state of the resulting field, also…
We demonstrate that the key to realizing arbitrary control over pairs of polarization states of light, i.e. transforming an arbitrarily polarized pair of input states to an arbitrarily polarized pair of output states, is the ability to…
The polarimetry of the light scattered by planetary surfaces is a powerful tool to provide constraints on their microstructure. To improve the interpretation of polarimetric data from icy surfaces, we have developed the POLarimeter for ICE…
Orbital variation in reflected starlight from exoplanets could eventually be used to detect surface oceans. Exoplanets with rough surfaces, or dominated by atmospheric Rayleigh scattering, should reach peak brightness in full phase, orbital…
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…
Birefringent crystals are extensively used to manipulate polarized light. The generalized transfer matrix developed allows efficient calculation of the full polarization state of light transmitted through and reflected by a stack of…
Time-variable polarization is an extremely valuable observational tool to probe the dynamical physical conditions of blazar jets. Since 2008, we have been monitoring the flux and linear polarization of a sample of gamma-ray bright blazars…
The elastic Rayleigh scattering of twisted light and, in particular, the polarization (transfer) of the scattered photons have been analyzed within the framework of second-order perturbation theory and Dirac's relativistic equation. Special…
We present a theory of light scattering consistent with modern physics. We proposed a spatial-temporal model of a photon based on classical model of atomic oscillator. Using this photon model, we established a criterion for single vs…
Speckle patterns observed in coherent optical imaging reflect important characteristic information of the scattering object. To capture speckle patterns, angular resolved or oblique illumination geometries are usually employed in…
Coherence and correlations represent two related properties of a compound system. The system can be, for instance, the polarization of a photon, which forms part of a polarization-entangled two-photon state, or the spatial shape of a…
The scattering of multispectral incoherent light is a common and unfavorable signal scrambling in natural scenes. However, the blurred light spot due to scattering still holds lots of information remaining to be explored. Former methods…