Abstract

The degree of polarization of a polarized polychromatic beam decreases during the passage of the beam through an optically active medium. In a previous paper [ B. Chakraborty and A. K. Chakraborty, J. Phys. D 18, 145 ( 1985)], this depolarizing effect in the case of a linearly polarized polychromatic beam having a flat-topped spectral profile was studied. In the present paper the effect of propagation of an elliptically polarized polychromatic beam having a Gaussian spectral profile through an optically active medium is studied. The results of the previous paper can be obtained as a particular case of this generalized study.

© 1986 Optical Society of America

Polychromatic optical transfer function of a perfect lens masked by birefringent plates

Biswajit Chakraborty
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