The Jones vector as a spinor and its representation on the Poincaré sphere
It is shown that the two complex Cartesian components of the electric field of a monochromatic electromagnetic plane wave, with a temporal and spatial dependence of the form ei(kz¡!t), form a SU(2) spinor that corresponds to a tangent vector to the Poincaré sphere representing the state of polarizat...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Estado: | Versão publicada |
| Data de publicação: | 2011 |
| País: | México |
| Recursos: | Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla |
| Repositório: | Redalyc-BUAP |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:redalyc.org:57020780004 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=57020780004 |
| Access Level: | Acceso aberto |
| Palavra-chave: | Física, Astronomía y Matemáticas spinors Jones vector polarization Poincaré sphere |
| Resumo: | It is shown that the two complex Cartesian components of the electric field of a monochromatic electromagnetic plane wave, with a temporal and spatial dependence of the form ei(kz¡!t), form a SU(2) spinor that corresponds to a tangent vector to the Poincaré sphere representing the state of polarization and phase of the wave. The geometrical representation on the Poincar´e sphere of the effect of some optical filters is reviewed. It is also shown that in the case of a partially polarized beam, the coherency matrix defines two diametrically opposite points of the Poincaré sphere. |
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