Polarization and intensity distributions of refraction halos
Published in J. Opt. Soc. Am. 73, 1629-1640, doi:10.1364/JOSA.73.001629 in 1983
G. P. Können
The intensity distributions of halos as a function of scattering angle are found to depend on the number of degrees of freedom of the generating set of crystals. The polarization of refraction halos as a function of scattering angle is calculated, in which birefringence is taken into account. The polarization of parhelia and tangent arcs shows a strong maximum near the inner edge of the halo over an angular range of 0.1°, followed by a similar maximum of reversed polarization at 0.5° from the first one. The 22° halo polarization shows a less strong maximum near its edge over an angular range of 0.5°. Halos at 46° from the sun also show a strong polarization near their inner edges, but the direction of the polarization is perpendicular to the polarization of the 22° halo edges.