Polarization characteristics of scattered light from macroscopically rough surfaces

The polarization status of in- and out-of-plane scattered light from macroscopically rough surfaces was measured and expressed in a scattering coordinate system. In this coordinate system, the direction of the scattered light was decided by the transverse and longitudinal scattering angles, both of which are defined by using the incident ray and its section plane as the fundamental axis and plane. The polarization characteristics of scattering, which consist of patterns of polarization degrees and the Stokes of the scattered light in terms of transverse and longitudinal scattering angles, was presented and investigated. The Stokes patterns of scattered light exhibited independence from the transverse scattering angle. Furthermore, the ellipsometric parameters of samples, which were deduced from the polarization status of full scattering, showed the validity as well as limitations of the facet model for macroscopically rough surface.