Jones Matrix Formulation

Table of Contents:

1. Jones Matrix Calculus
2. Example: Half-Wave Plate
3. Example: Quarter-Wave Plate

JONES MATRIX CALCULUS

In most materials used in waveplates and polarizers, the crystal medium is a uniaxial crystal.

With a light beam in a polarization state described by the Jones vector:

\begin{equation} V = \begin{pmatrix} V_x \\ V_y \end{pmatrix} \end{equation}

We can decompose this light into a linear combination of