Abstract

The coherency matrix is introduced in the context of vector-valued stationary stochastic processes with orthogonal increments. The ensemble-averaging approach is used instead of the customary time-averaging approach; this allows us to use the spectral-representation theorem. The Stokes’ parameters are interpreted as power spectral densities and are shown to be related to the cospectra and quadspectra of the processes. Generalizations of the Stokes concept for N×N systems are also studied. Non image-forming optical instruments are treated as four-pole networks and the formalism of generalized transfer-function matrices is applied.

© 1963 Optical Society of America

Stochastic Generalization of the Green–Wolf Complex Scalar Potential of Electromagnetic Theory*

Richard Barakat
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 53(2) 252-255 (1963)

Displacement of Energy Levels of Atoms by Light

Alfred Kastler
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 53(8) 902-910 (1963)

Fresnel Diffraction of the Plane Phase Grating

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. 53(2) 267-273 (1963)

Operator Formalism in the Theory of Partial Polarization*

A. S. Marathy
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 55(8) 969-980 (1965)

Fluctuation Theory of Luminance and Chromaticity Discrimination*

M. A. Bouman, J. J. Vos, and P. L. Walraven
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 53(1) 121-128 (1963)