Abstract

Polarization is a concept most students readily understand in terms of the preferential direction of electric field vectors. The visualization of the electric field component of an electromagnetic wave facilitates the understanding of a large body of knowledge concerning propagation and measurement of completely and partially polarized light. Little known to undergraduate students, however, is the Stokes parameters and students typically receive a cursory treatment regarding their usefulness in describing and measuring polarized light in a laboratory or astronomical setting. We present laboratory exercises where students use Stokes parameters when measuring and describing the polarization of electromagnetic radiation and in the statistical analysis of polarized light.

© 2009 Optical Society of America