Polarization characteristics of reflected coherent light

A model is proposed for the reflection of coherent light by a rough surface and it includes a correction needed to allow for the polarization on reflection. This model is employed to investigate the spatial characteristics of radiation in the diffraction zone and in the image plane of an optical receiver system. It is shown that the distribution of the polarization in the image plane is formed with the same accuracy as the coherent image, so that additional information on an object can be obtained by polarization measurements in the image plane.