General Formalisms for Polarized Light Propagation Through Liquid Crystal Devices

GENERAL FORMALISMS FOR POLARIZED LIGHT PROPAGATION THROUGH LIQUID CRYSTAL DEVICES 

We shall begin with a discussion of the basic formalism for treating polarized tight. Consider a plane-polarized monochromatic light wave, the electric field vector of which can be written as ° 

As discussed previously, the electric field vector can assume various polarization states. Jones calculus is a method to treat propagation and evolution of these polarization states in an anisotropic crystal, which will impart various phase shifts to the principal axes components of the electric field. We begin by defining the Jones vector  

Jones vector is a mathematical representation of the x andy components at aity given time t, such that, E (/) = Re = Re  

In a lossless medium, we assume an amplitude of unity for the electric field (i.e.,A = 1), 

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