Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Fabrication Procedures and Birefringence Measurements for Designing Magnetically Responsive Lanthanide Ion Chelating Phospholipid Assemblies
Published on: January 3, 2018
Evolution of the polarization state for radiation propagating in a nonuniform, birefringent, optically active, and
1Associazione EURATOM-ENEA sulla Fusione, Centro Ricerche Energia Frascati, Rome, Italy.
Abstract:
First, the analytic expressions are derived that describe some properties of the Poincaré sphere that are related to the coherent sum of two waves having different polarizations. Then these expressions are used to obtain the differential equation that describes the evolution of the state of polarization of radiation propagating in a medium that is nonuniform, birefringent, optically active, and dichroic. Finally, an important example is presented: that of a magnetized plasma in which particle collisions are not negligible, such as the earth's ionosphere or certain laboratory plasmas. The evolution equation is the basis of plasma polarimetry.
Related Concept Videos
Dual Nature of Electromagnetic (EM) Radiation
Wavelength is the distance between two consecutive peaks (the highest point) or troughs (the lowest point) in the wave. Frequency is the number of...
Dielectric Polarization in a Capacitor
Plane Electromagnetic Waves I
The EM field is assumed to be a...
Potential Due to a Polarized Object
Potential Due to a Magnetized Object
The vector...
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions

