Twisting of Polarization of the Light Beam in a Multiply Scattering Medium

Abstract

We calculate the intensity and the main mode of linear polarization, i.e., the difference in the intensities of the orthogonally polarized components, for the case of oblique incidence of a linearly polarized light beam on a disordered medium. It is assumed that multiple scattering has a sharply anisotropic character. The vector equation of radiation transfer is solved neglecting the difference in the amplitude of single scattered waves, when light becomes depolarized due to polarization twisting in the process of multiple scattering. It is shown that the angle at which the maximum of the polarization degree is observed decreases as the depth increases much slower than the angle corresponding to the intensity peak.