Formalism of optical coherence and polarization based on material media states

The fluctuations or disordered motion of the electromagnetic fields are described by statistical properties rather than instantaneous values. This statistical description of the optical fields is underlying in the Stokes-Mueller formalism that applies to measurable intensities. However, the fundamental concept of optical coherence, which is assessed by the ability of waves to interfere, is not treatable by this formalism because it omits the global phase. In this work we show that using an analogy between deterministic matrix states associated with optical media and quantum mechanical wave functions, it is possible to construct a general formalism that accounts for the additional terms resulting from the coherency effects that average out for incoherent treatments. This method generalizes further the concept of coherent superposition to describe how deterministic states of optical media can superpose to generate another deterministic media state. Our formalism is used to study the combined polarimetric response of interfering plasmonic nanoantennas.