Abstract

In the visible range, sunlight that is scattered from planetary and terrestrial surfaces becomes polarized. The amount of polarization and the plane of polarization is a function of the incident and scattered radiation directions, the scattering surface structure and its optical complex index of refraction. The wavelength dependence of polarization is implicit in the aforementioned parameters. When one speaks of polarization, one refers to plane polarization, which is the dominant form in nature. Circular and elliptical polarization also occurs, but is more difficult to detect: it results from scattering/reflection from high imaginary index (high absorption) materials, which produce a significant phase change in the quadrature component of scattered radiation.

© 1988 Optical Society of America