Degree of polarization in dissipative optical systems

Abstract The polarization matrix formalism is employed to analyze the polarization properties of transmitted narrowband light through several optical setups involving active and dissipative structures. It is demonstrated that the degree of polarization of the output light can increase after propagation in a active/dissipative periodic media. Furthermore, the impact of introducing optical elements like polarizers, compensators, and rotators is examined, and their collective effect on the degree of polarization is discussed.