Evaluation of the polarimetric transition matrix for a magnetized plasma

Abstract

With reference to the change of polarization of an electromagnetic wave traversing a plasma, two alternative numerical schemes are discussed for computing the plasma transition matrix for given profiles of plasma parameters. Such a computation is required for the reconstruction of magnetohydrodynamic equilibria, when the elements of the matrix are included among the measured quantities used in the best fit procedure. Both schemes, which are especially useful when the Cotton–Mouton effects are not small, ensure that the matrix remains unitary during the numerical integration.