PolarizationConventionΒΆ

Type:

enum

Range:

Hauge-Berkeley, JCM, Muller-Nebraska

Default:

JCM

Appearance:

simple

There exists several competing conventions on how to measure polarization in use throughout different optics communities [1]. As outlined in the parent section ScatteringMatrix, by default the convention described in PlaneWave is used.

Other popular convention differ from this definition in three key aspects:

  • the time-harmonic phase dependency

  • the choice of sign of the fourth Stokes-parameter

  • whether or not the coordinate system is switched on reflection

The convention used by JCMsuite depends on the propagation direction, hence the S-polarization changes its sign in a reflection measurement. Furthermore, as noted in here the angular frequency dependence in the fields is given by \exp {-i\omega t}, whereas conventions used in the ellipsometry community usually assume \exp {i\omega t}. The fourth Stokes-parameter distinguishes left and right handed polarization and offers an additional choice of sign.

The additional conventions are

Muller-Nebraska

This definition [1] retains the polarization system on reflection, switches the Stokes parameter and angular frequency dependence.

Hauge-Berkeley

This definition [2] retains the polarization system on reflection and switches the angular frequency dependence.

Bibliography