The Stokes parameters are a set of values that describe the polarization state of electromagnetic radiation. They were defined by George Gabriel Stokes in 1852,[1][2] as a mathematically convenient alternative to the more common description of incoherent or partially polarized radiation in terms of its total intensity (I), (fractional) degree of polarization (p), and the shape parameters of the polarization ellipse. The effect of an optical system on the polarization of light can be determined by constructing the Stokes vector for the input light and applying Mueller calculus, to obtain the Stokes vector of the light leaving the system. They can be determined from directly observable phenomena. The original Stokes paper was discovered independently by Francis Perrin in 1942[3] and by Subrahamanyan Chandrasekhar in 1947,[4][5] who named it as the Stokes parameters.
- ^ Stokes, G. G. (1852). On the composition and resolution of streams of polarized light from different sources. Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 9, 399.
- ^ S. Chandrasekhar Radiative Transfer, Dover Publications, New York, 1960, ISBN 0-486-60590-6, page 25
- ^ Perrin, F. (1942). Polarization of light scattered by isotropic opalescent media. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 10(7), 415-427.
- ^ "S. Chandrasekhar - Session II". Oral History Interviews. AIP. 18 May 1977.
- ^ Chandrasekhar, S. (1947). The transfer of radiation in stellar atmospheres. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 53(7), 641-711.