Polarization of Light

by Ajoy Ghatak

"This book covers the basic concepts and methods involved in polarization of light, and features important methods of analysis such as Jones matrices, Stokes parameters, and Poincare sphere. The book provides the background needed to understand the workings of, and to design various photonic devices, including Faraday rotators, inline fiber optic components such as polarizers, wave plates, and polarization controllers, and polarimetric sensors such as fiber optic current sensors. Birefringence and the phenomenon of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in single-mode fibers are also covered. The discussion of concepts is succinct, and the presentation of methods includes concrete examples. The book comprehensively • Maxwell’s Equations and Plane Wave Solutions • Basic Concepts on Polarization • Double Refraction and Applications • Jones Vector Representation of Polarized Light • Stokes Parameters Representation • Poincare Sphere Representation of Polarized Light • Propagation and Polarization Characteristics of Single Mode Fibers • Birefringence in Optical Applications • Polarization Mode Dispersion in Optical Fibers With its comprehensive coverage, this book should be ideal text for students and a useful resource for engineers."

Hardcover

About the author

Ajoy Ghatak is an Indian physicist and author of physics textbooks.Professor Ghatak has written over 170 research papers and more than 20 books. His undergraduate text on Optics has been translated to Chinese and Persian and his monograph on Inhomogeneous Optical Waveguides (coauthored with Professor Sodha) has been translated to Chinese and Russian. In 1995, he was elected Fellow of the Optical Society of America "for distinguished service to optics education and for his contribution to the understanding of propagation characteristics of gradient index media, fibers and integrated optical devices".
He received his M.Sc from Delhi University and Ph.D from Cornell University. After a short stint as a Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Professor Ghatak joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1966. He retired as an Emeritus Professor of Physics at IIT Delhi in 2007.