Unified Treatment of Forward and Backward Propagating Polarized Lightwaves

The implications of time symmetry on the relation between forward and backward propagation of polarized optical fields are discussed making use of a newly developed formalism. The constraints imposed by spatial symmetries to the effect of static fields on a medium birefringence are elucidated. Special cases are the Faraday effect and the Cotton-Mouton effect. Compensation of round-trip birefringence is finally investigated.