Ray-optics analysis of inhomogeneous biaxially anisotropic media.

Firm evidence of the biaxial nematic phase in liquid crystals, not induced by a magnetic or electric field, has been established only recently. The discovery of these biaxially anisotropic liquid crystals has opened up new areas of both fundamental and applied research. The advances in biaxial liquid-crystal-related topics call for a good overview on the propagation of waves through biaxially anisotropic media.

General polarized ray-tracing method for inhomogeneous uniaxially anisotropic media.

Uniaxial optical anisotropy in the geometrical-optics approach is a classical problem, and most of the theory has been known for at least fifty years. Although the subject appears frequently in the literature, wave propagation through inhomogeneous anisotropic media is rarely addressed. The rapid advances in liquid-crystal lenses call for a good overview of the theory on wave propagation via anisotropic media.