Time-dependent polarization states of high power, ultrashort laser pulses during atmospheric propagation

TL;DR

This paper simulates how high power, ultrashort laser pulses change their polarization states during atmospheric travel, revealing depolarization effects that impact remote sensing and measurement techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a rotational response model that captures polarization evolution and depolarization phenomena during atmospheric propagation of ultrashort laser pulses.

Findings

Circular and linear polarizations remain stable during propagation.

Elliptical polarization states tend to depolarize due to energy exchange.

Depolarization affects remote radiation generation and polarization measurements.

Abstract

We investigate, through simulation, the evolution of polarization states during atmospheric propagation of high power, ultrashort laser pulses. A delayed rotational response model handling arbitrary, transverse polarization couples both the amplitude and phase of the polarization states. We find that, while circularly and linearly polarized pulses maintain their polarization, elliptically polarized pulses become depolarized due to energy equilibration between left and right circularly polarized states. The depolarization can be detrimental to remote radiation generation schemes and obscures time-integrated polarization measurements.