In complex scalar fields, singularities of the phase (optical vortices, wavefront dislocations) are lines in space, or points in the plane, where the wave amplitude vanishes. Phase singularities are illustrated by zeros in edge diffraction and amphidromies in the heights of the tides. In complex vector waves, there are two sorts of polarization singularity. The polarization is purely circular o...

We report first-epoch circular polarization results for 133 active galactic nuclei in theMOJAVE program tomonitor the structure and polarization of a flux-limited sample of extragalactic radio jets with the VLBA at 15 GHz.We found strong circular polarization ( 0.3%) in approximately 15% of our sample. The circular polarization was usually associated with jet cores; however, we did find a few s...

This report describes the design, construction, and operation of a monitor of the transverse polarization of beams circulating in the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center e+estorage ring SPEAR. This device measures an asymmetry in the Compton scattering of circularly polarized laser photons. Measurement of the beam polarization to a statistical precision of _+5% requires approximately two minutes...

We present results from a new Monte Carlo radiative transfer computer code, STOKES, developed to model polarization induced by scattering off free electrons and dust grains. STOKES is freely available on the web and can be used to model scattering in a wide variety of astrophysical situations. For edge-on (type-2) viewing positions, the polarization produced by a dusty torus alone is largely wa...

Abstract: The application of electric field theory to widely different aspects of electrical insulation has led to more understanding the phenomena. Electric fields may be considered as the main reason for insulation failure. The purpose of this paper is to modify importance of analyzing electric field in insulation design. The SF6 circuit breaker is chosen as case study that encounters cri...

At present three pulsars are known which clearly show a strongly increasing degree of circular polarization with frequency. As this is accompanied by a smooth decrease of linear polarization, we investigate, if this observation can be explained through a propagation mode transition from linear to circular polarization. Using a previously published model we find that the rate of change of the po...

We consider emission of a photon by an electron in the field of a strong laser wave. Polarization effects in this process are important for a number of physical problems. We discuss a probability of this process for circularly polarized laser photons and for arbitrary polarization of all other particles. We obtain the complete set of functions which describe such a probability in a compact cova...

Liquid crystal polarization gratings exhibit high diffraction efficiency (approximately 100%) in thin material layers comparable to the radiation wavelength. We demonstrate that they can be combined for polarization-insensitive imaging and optical switching applications. A pair of closely spaced, parallel oriented, cycloidal polarization gratings is capable of canceling the diffractive property...