Abstract Electro-optic crystals are extensively utilized to manipulate polarized light. In this paper, a general and accurate three-dimensional polarization ray tracing calculus for characterizing the evolution of polarization state in electro-optic crystals is reported for the first time. The analytical formulas of the parameters describing the propagation properties of the light passing through an electro-optical crystal with an arbitrary incident direction are derived. The partial interference between the divergent light beams is considered in the proposed calculus. Both experiments and calculations on an electro-optic modulator based on a lithium niobate crystal over the azimuth angle of 0 ∘ -360°and the incidence angle of 0 ∘ -3°are presented as an example. The experimental results show very good agreement with the theoretical results.

中文翻译：

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电光晶体中的三维偏振射线追踪

摘要 电光晶体被广泛用于操纵偏振光。在本文中，首次报道了用于表征电光晶体中偏振态演化的通用且准确的三维偏振射线追踪演算。推导出了描述光通过任意入射方向的电光晶体的传播特性的参数解析公式。在提出的微积分中考虑了发散光束之间的部分干涉。以铌酸锂晶体为基础，在0 ∘ -360°方位角和0 ∘ -3°入射角的电光调制器上进行了实验和计算。实验结果与理论结果非常吻合。