Photon Engineering - FRED

Polarization

Polarization properties can be assigned to any FRED source.

These properties include

•		Ellipticity (linear, elliptical, circular, and randomized)
•		Handedness (right-handed, left-handed, randomized)
•		Angle of polarization ellipse (specified, randomized)

(Note: The randomize option is useful for simulating random polarization states in incoherent sources.)

During the raytrace, FRED takes into account the polarization properties of the ray, the angle of incidence, and the nature of the surface (bare substrate, multilayer coating, idealized polarizer, etc.). At the conclusion of the raytrace, the polarization properties may be displayed in a polarization spot diagram. Any coherent calculations automatically include the polarization state of each ray so interferograms and point spread functions are correctly calculated.

Polarizing components are modeled in two ways in FRED:

•	FRED has an extensive list of idealized, predefined wave plates and linear and circular polarizers that can be applied to any surface
•	Accurate physical models of wave plates and retarders may be constructed using birefringent materials

Polarization effects in amici roof prism linear states

Wollaston prism showing conversion of circularly polarized light into orthogonal