Polarized Light and the Mueller Matrix Approach

This revised compendium integrates basic concepts of polarization phenomena from the dual viewpoints of polarization of electromagnetic waves and transformations by the action of material media. Through selected examples, it illustrates actual and potential applications in materials science, biology, and optics technology.

José Jorge Gil earned his PhD in Physics from the University of Zaragoza in 1983. While he was a research student he developed an original dual rotating absolute Mueller polarimeter and introduced some new concepts, such as the depolarization index. He has been a professor at the University of Zaragoza from 1983, where he has led a large number of R&D projects in Physics as well as in e- Learning technologies and methodologies. He was also the general manager of the R&D Department of the Spanish company BGL (1991- 1996), where he led the development of new wireless systems for interactive meetings, which deserved the Tecnova award from the Spanish Industry Ministry in 1993. He is author of a large number of scientific articles and some patents. He was the recipient of the G. G. Stokes Award 2013 from the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) in recognition of his ＂collection of rigorous mathematical descriptions of polarization that are used widely to interpret experimental data.＂

Razvigor Ossikovski is an alumnus (X88 PEI) of the International Programme of the Ecole Polytechnique, France, where he also earned his MSc (1992) and PhD (1995) degrees in Physics. He likewise holds an Engineer’s degree (1991) from Rousse Polytechnic, Bulgaria. He held R&D engineeer and team leader positions at the companies HORIBA Jobin Yvon, Corning Inc. and HighWave Optical (1995- 2003) before taking his current academic position as assistant professor (2003) and, after his habilitation, associate professor (2010) and full professor (2018) in Physics at the Ecole Polytechnique, LPICM (Laboratory of Physics of Interfaces and Thin Films). His current research interests are the theory of polarimetry (specifically, Mueller matrix algebra and phenomenological models), as well as experimental tip- enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). He has authored or co- authored five patents, two books, four book- chapters and more than 200 publications.