Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / A three dimensional analysis of the intensity distribution of backward optical transition radiation has been performed. The effects of variations in electron energy and beam divergence and on material properties such as dielectric permittivities and the resultant coherence length upon the angular distribution and polarization of optical transition radiation has been investigated. A surprising observation important to the use of optical transition radiation as a diagnostic tool for high energy electron beams is the behavior of the perpendicular component of the intensity. In contrast to low energies where the parallel component dominates, at electron energies above 200 MeV, the perpendicular component dominates. This requires the use of a polarization filter to diagnose particle beam properties at high energies. / http://archive.org/details/threedimensional00long / Lieutenant, United States Navy