Real-time measurement of retardation and fast axis azimuth for wave plates

Xie, Chengke, Zhu, Linglin, Yuan, Qiao, Li, Fanyue, Zeng, Aijun, Huang, Huijie

Publication in Journal of Optical Technology

For Russian citation (Opticheskii Zhurnal):

Chengke Xie, Linglin Zhu, Qiao Yuan, Fanyue Li, Aijun Zeng, Huijie Huang Real-time measurement of retardation and fast axis azimuth for wave plates [на англ. яз.] // Оптический журнал. 2015. Т. 82. № 5. С. 37–41.

Chengke Xie, Linglin Zhu, Qiao Yuan, Fanyue Li, Aijun Zeng, Huijie Huang Real-time measurement of retardation and fast axis azimuth for wave plates [in English] // Opticheskii Zhurnal. 2015. V. 82. № 5. P. 37–41.

For citation (Journal of Optical Technology):

Chengke Xie, Aijun Zeng, Huijie Huang, Linglin Zhu, Qiao Yuan, and Fanyue Li, "Real-time measurement of retardation and fast axis azimuth for wave plates," Journal of Optical Technology. 82(5), 294-297 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1364/JOT.82.000294

Abstract:

Real-time measurement of retardation and fast axis azimuth of wave plates is proposed. The light emitted from the laser passes through a circular polarizer and the sample successively. Then the beam is diffracted to three sub-beams by a grating. One sub-beam passes through a standard quarter-wave plate and then is split and analyzed by a Wollaston prism. The other two sub-beams are all directly split and analyzed by Wollaston prisms. Six intensities are simultaneously detected to calculate the retardation and the fast axis azimuth. Experiments show that for the quarter-wave plate the average and standard deviation of the retardation are 89.78° and 0.14°, respectively, and the maximum deviation of the fast axis azimuth is 0.6°; for the eighth-wave plate, the average and standard deviation of the retardation are 45.15° and 0.15°, respectively, and the maximum deviation of the fast axis azimuth is 0.53.

Keywords:

real-time measurements, retardation, circular pulverizer, Wollaston prism, standard deviation

Acknowledgements:

This work is supported by International Science & Technology Cooperation Programs of China (2012DFG51590, 2011DFR10010) and National Science and Technology Major Project of China (2011ZX02402).

OCIS codes: 120.1880; 310.5448; 230.1950; 230.5480

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