Resumen de Generalized polarization algebra

J. J. Gil Pérez , José Manuel Correas Dobato , P. A. Melero, C. Ferreira

• A new model for the mathematical representation of polarimetric properties of light and optical systems is presented. The polarimetric states are characterized by means of complex correlation matrices ¿coherency matrices¿ which contain all the physical measurable information. The physical magnitudes arise as the coefficients of the expansion of the coherency matrix in a set of hermitic trace-orthogonal matrices constituted by the generators of the SU(n) group and the n × n identity matrix. The cases of light (n = 2, n = 3) and optical systems (n = 4) are analyzed on the basis of a unified model which is presented in a generic formulation that can be also applied to other n-dimensional phenomena. A global index of purity is defined as a non-dimensional measure of the statistical polarimetric mixture of pure physical states.