Abstract

The sum of two uncorrelated and totally polarized lights with different coherence and polarization properties usually results in a partially polarized light. It is shown in this paper that the initial totally polarized lights can be recovered from the mixed partially polarized light. The proposed technique is based on coherence analysis and does not require the knowledge of the polarization states or the coherence properties of the initial perfectly polarized beams as long as these properties are different for the two waves. Some practical optical implementations of this technique are discussed on different illustrative applications.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

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