Stokes Parameters for Superposition of Two Slightly Noncollinear Polarized Beams

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This Demonstration explores Stokes parameters, polarization spheres, and polarization ellipses for the superposition of two slightly noncollinear polarized light beams. The polarization vectors of the two beams are given by and , while their amplitudes are and . The Stokes parameters are designated by the curves (thick black), (dashed blue), (dotted green), and (dot-dashed red). The polarization ellipse is calculated for a user-controlled point shown as a vertical line on the Stokes-parameter plot and as a black point on the polarization-sphere plot.

Contributed by: B. M. Rodríguez-Lara and I. Ricardez-Vargas (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


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This Demonstration is an interactive version of Figures 5, 7, and 9 presented in the article by B. M. Rodriguez-Lara and I. Ricardez-Vargas, "Interference with Polarized Light Beams: Generation of Spatially Varying Polarization," arxiv.org/abs/0904.0204.



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