Abstract

The design, the construction, and the testing of a division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter (DOAP) introduced by Azzam [ Opt. Acta 29, 685 ( 1982); Opt. Acta 32, 767 ( 1985)] are described. The DOAP can perform time-resolved measurements of all four Stokes parameters of arbitrarily polarized light. The instrument was calibrated and tested at 632.8- and 1523-nm laser wavelengths. The mean deviations of the measured Stokes vectors from ideal polarization-state generator curves were less than 1% at 632.8 nm and less than 4% at 1523 nm. The larger deviations at 1523 nm resulted from larger imperfections in the quarter-wave plate used in the polarization-state generator. The results of instrument calibration methods introduced by Azzam et al. [ Rev. Sci. Instrum. 59, 84 ( 1988); J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 6, 1513 ( 1989)] are presented and discussed. The DOAP has been used to study light scattering by rough surfaces and to carry out conventional, generalized, and Mueller matrix ellipsometry.

© 1992 Optical Society of America

Accurate calibration of the four-detector photopolarimeter with imperfect polarizing optical elements

R. M. A. Azzam and Ali G. Lopez
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 6(10) 1513-1521 (1989)

Spectral polarization measurements by use of the grating division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter

Shankar Krishnan, Scott Hampton, James Rix, Brian Taylor, and Rasheed M. A. Azzam
Appl. Opt. 42(7) 1216-1227 (2003)

Mueller-matrix ellipsometry using the division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter: a study of depolarization effects

Shankar Krishnan and Paul C. Nordine
Appl. Opt. 33(19) 4184-4192 (1994)

Photopolarimeter based on planar grating diffraction

R. M. A. Azzam and K. A. Giardina
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 10(6) 1190-1196 (1993)

Optimal beam splitters for the division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter

R. M. A. Azzam and A. De
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 20(5) 955-958 (2003)