  The minor axes of, and the normals to, the polarization ellipses that
surround singular lines of linear polarization in three dimensional optical
ellipse fields are shown to be organized into Mobius strips and into structures
we call rippled rings (r-rings). The Mobius strips have two full twists, and
can be either right- or left-handed. The major axes of the surrounding ellipses
generate cone-like structures. Three orthogonal projections that give rise to
15 indices are used to characterize the different structures. These indices, if
independent, could generate 839,808 geometrically and topologically distinct
lines; selection rules are presented that reduce the number of lines to 8,248,
some 5,562 of which have been observed in a computer simulation. Statistical
probabilities are presented for the most important index combinations in random
fields. It is argued that it is presently feasible to perform experimental
measurements of the Mobius strips, r-rings, and cones described here
theoretically.
