Elliptical Polarization - Mathematical Description of Elliptical Polarization

Mathematical Description of Elliptical Polarization

The classical sinusoidal plane wave solution of the electromagnetic wave equation for the electric and magnetic fields is (cgs units)

for the magnetic field, where k is the wavenumber,

is the angular frequency of the wave, and is the speed of light.

Here is the amplitude of the field and

is the Jones vector in the x-y plane. The axes of the ellipse have lengths and . If and are equal the wave is linearly polarized. If they differ by the wave is circularly polarized.

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