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A New Calculus for the Treatment of Optical Systems. VII. Properties of the N-Matrices

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Abstract

The preceding papers of this series have examined the properties of an optical calculus which represented each of the separate elements of an optical system by means of a single matrix M. This paper is concerned with the properties of matrices, denoted by N, which refer not to the complete element, but only to a given infinitesimal path length within the element.

If M is the matrix of the optical element up to the point z, where z is measured along the light path, then the N-matrix at the point z is defined by

N(dM/dz)M-1.

Thus one may write symbolically,

N=dlogM/dz,

and

M=M0exp(Ndz).

A general introduction is contained in Part I. The definition and general properties of the N-matrices are treated in Part II. Part III contains a detailed discussion of the important special case in which the optical medium is homogeneous, so that N is independent of z; Part III contains in Eq. (3.26) the explicit relation which corresponds to the symbolic relation (C). Part IV describes a systematic method, based on the N-matrices, by which the optical properties of the system at each point may be described uniquely and quantitatively as a combination of a certain amount of linear birefringence, a certain amount of circular dichroism, etc.; the method of resolution is indicated in Table I. Part V treats the properties of the inhomogeneous crystal which is obtained by twisting a homogeneous crystal about an axis parallel to the light path.

© 1948 Optical Society of America

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Tables (1)

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Equations (172)

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