In recent years, the study of the coherence properties of partially polarized electromagnetic fields is a subject of increasing interest and active research (see, for instance, Dennis, 2007; Ellis and Dogariu, 2004; Gori, 2008; Gori et al., 2006a, b, 2007, 2009; Korotkova and Wolf, 2005a, b; Lahiri and Wolf, 2009; Li et al., 2006; Mujat and Dogariu, 2003; Ponomarenko and Wolf, 2003; Pu et al., 2007; Réfrégier and Goudail, 2005; Réfrégier and Roueff, 2006, 2007a, b; Réfrégier, 2008a, b; Réfrégier and Luis, 2008; Roychowdhury and Wolf, 2005; Santarsiero and Borghi, 2006; Santarsiero, 2007; Setälä et al., 2004, 2006a, b; Tervo, 2003; Tervo et al., 2003, 2004; Wolf, 2003; Wolf and Roychowdhury, 2005; Wolf et al., 2006; Zhao and Wolf, 2008). As is well known, the scalar theory was clearly established many years ago (Beran and Parrent, 1967; Born and Wolf, 1999; Mandel and Wolf, 1995; Perina, 1971; Wolf, 2007b), and the concept of complete coherence of light was shown to be equivalent to a factorization condition of the cross-spectral density function of the field. Furthermore, in the scalar approach, a degree of coherence of unit modulus means maximum fringe visibility in Young’s interference experiments. However, such behavior is no longer so simple in the vectorial regime. Moreover, the properties of polarization, factorization and visibility allow defining and characterizing different types of vectorial beams. This subject will be analyzed in a detailed way along the present chapter.
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Martínez-Herrero, R., Mejías, P.M., Piquero, G. (2009). Polarization and Coherence of Random Electromagnetic Fields. In: Characterization of Partially Polarized Light Fields. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 147. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01327-0_3
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