Perfect polarization for arbitrary light beams

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive characterization of perfectly polarized quantum states of light, revealing that the accepted class is incomplete and offering a more complete set based on symmetry and geometry considerations.

Contribution

It identifies all quantum states corresponding to perfect polarization, expanding beyond the previously accepted subset, and reinterprets the degree of polarization for classical and quantum light.

Findings

The accepted class of perfectly polarized quantum states is incomplete.

A complete set of perfectly polarized states is derived using symmetry and geometry.

The canonical degree of polarization is reinterpreted in light of these findings.

Abstract

Polarization of light is harnessed in an abundance of classical and quantum applications. Characterizing polarization in a classical sense is done resoundingly successfully using the Stokes parameters, and numerous proposals offer new quantum counterparts of this characterization. The latter often rely on distance measures from completely polarized or unpolarized light. We here show that the accepted class of perfectly polarized quantum states of light is severely lacking in terms of both pure states and mixed states. By appealing to symmetry and geometry arguments we determine all of the states corresponding to perfect polarization, and show that the accepted class of completely polarized quantum states is only a subset of our result. We use this result to reinterpret the canonical degree of polarization, commenting on its interpretation for classical and quantum light. Our results are necessary for any further characterizations of light's polarization.