Non-uniformly and totally polarized beams propagating through chiral media

Abstract

Non-uniformly and totally polarized (NUTP) beams propagating through chiral media are investigated. These beams have been proven to be useful in fields like polarimetry for the determination of the Mueller matrix of a sample, particle manipulation, etc. In this work, we consider the effects of a chiral medium (i.e., a medium exhibiting circular birefringence and circular dichroism) on the propagation of such beams, and we study the evolution of the transverse irradiance and polarization patterns, both inside the sample and in the free space after the sample, in connection with the optical properties of the medium. In particular, we focus on a class of NUTP beams that preserve their transverse irradiance and polarization pattern during paraxial propagation, in free space or through ABCD optical systems, and the advantages of using them. Conditions are established such that beams remain polarization-invariant after exiting the chiral medium, and simple procedures are presented to gain information about the optical properties of a chiral sample through a suitable choice of the input beam and irradiance measurements across the section of the output beam. These findings highlight the potential of NUTP beams as a versatile tool for investigating optical activity in several fields, such as pharmacology, medicine, and biology.