%0 Journal Article
%A Piquero Sanz, Gemma María
%A Movilla Serrano, Jesús María
%A Martínez Herrero, María Rosario
%A Mejías Arias, Pedro Miguel
%T Parametric characterization of non-uniformly polarized beams
%D 1998
%@ 0030-4018
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58846
%X A new overall parameter is defined, namely, the generalized degree of polarization, which involves the spatial distribution of the polarization of a light beam. This parameter is introduced on the basis of a general treatment recently proposed [Optics Leb. 22 (1997) 206] to characterize partially polarized fields, which extends the Stokes-Mueller formalism to describe the intensity moments of a quasimonochromatic beam. The main properties and the physical meaning of this parameter with regard to the spatial inhomogeneities of the polarization state are analysed, and a general measurement procedure is proposed.
%~