Polarization invariance in beam propagation.
It has been known for some time that the degree of polarization of a light beam may change on propagation, even in free space. In this Letter we derive sufficiency conditions for the degree of polarization of a beam generated by a uniformly polarized stochastic, electromagnetic source of a wide class to be the same throughout the far zone and in the source plane.
Wolf
Emil
E
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, NY 14627, USA.