Paths taken by vectors in the Poincaré sphere under birefringence. The propagation modes (=rotation axes) are shown with red, blue and yellow lines, the initial vectors by thick black lines, and the paths they take by colored ellipses (which represent circles in three dimensions).

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Paths taken by vectors in the Poincaré sphere under birefringence. The propagation modes (=rotation axes) are shown with red, blue and yellow lines, the initial vectors by thick black lines, and the paths they take by colored ellipses (which represent circles in three dimensions).