What is the degree of polarization of an SLED?
Answer
The Degree Of Polarization (DOP) of a light source describes what portion of the total emitted light power Ptotal = Ppol + Punpol is polarized and is defined as
Natural sunlight and light from a LED is completely unpolarized (DOP=0%) whereas light from a DFB laser is completely polarized light (DOP=100%).
The light emitted by an SLED is a combination of unpolarized spontaneous emission and amplified spontaneous emission, generally resulting in a DOP considerably less than 100%.