Polarizedlightispervasiveinourworld,andwemustunderstandit,measureit,andbeabletouseittoouradvantage.Thisbookisacomprehensivereferenceonpolarizedlightforscientistsandengineersworkinginavarietyoffields.Italsocanbeusedasatextbookforadvancedundergraduatesorgraduatestudentswhohavehadcalculusandlinearalgebraandperhapsacourseinintroductoryphysics.PolarizedLight,ThirdEditionisanupdatedversionofPolarizedLight,SecondEdition,RevisedandExpandedaspublishedbyMarcelDekker,2003.PolarizedLighttakesthereaderfromageneraldescriptionoflightthroughacompletedescriptionofpolarizedlight,andincludespracticalapplications.Itincorporatessuchbasictopicsaspolarizationbyrefractionandreflection,polarizationelements,anisotropicmaterials,polarizationformalisms(Mueller–StokesandJones),andpolarimetry,thescienceofpolarizationmeasurement.Thisthirdeditionincludessubstantivenewmaterial,andfiguresthatwerenotredrawninthesecondeditionhavebeenreplacedherewithnewgraphics,andblackandwhitephotosandcolorplateshavebeenadded.Acompletelyrevisedhistoricalreviewentitled“PolarizedLight:AHistory”isincluded.Thefirsttwochaptersarecompletelynew,andareintendedtoinspirethereadertostudypolarizedlight,withanew“Introduction”topolarizedlightasthefirstchapter,andanewchapteron“PolarizationintheNaturalEnvironment”asChapter2.Chapter7“FresnelEquations:DerivationandMuellerMatrixFormulation”hasbeenrevised.Achapteronthe“Fresnel–AragoInterferenceLaws”hasbeencompletelyrewrittenandisincludedhereasChapter12.Thechapter“PolarizationOpticalElements,”Chapter23,hasbeenupdatedwiththeadditionofphotosandimproveddiagrams.Additionalnewchapters“FormBirefringenceandMeanderlineRetarders,”“TechniquesinImagingPolarimetry,”and“ChanneledPolarimetryforSnapshotMeasurement
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