Abstract
For stationary light fields, the degree of polarization (DOP) of light relates to the maximum correlation between two arbitrarily decomposed orthogonal electric field components at a space–time point. We generalize this understanding theoretically by showing a physically insightful connection between DOP and the two-time degree of coherence of electromagnetic fields. Further, by using a variable path Mach–Zehnder interferometer, we experimentally demonstrate that the DOP of light can be directly determined by measuring the correlation between orthogonal electric field components at two-time points, showing an excellent match between the experiment and the theory. This study also leads to methods for constructing a tunable DOP source.
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