Publication: Optical inspection of liquid crystal variable retarder inhomogeneities
Loading...
Official URL
Full text at PDC
Publication Date
2010-02-01
Authors
Uribe Patarroyo, Néstor R.
Advisors (or tutors)
Editors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Optical Society Of America
Citations
Exportar
Abstract
Liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) are starting to be widely used in optical systems because of their capacity to provide a controlled variable optical retardance between two orthogonal components of incident polarized light or to introduce a known phase shifting (PS) between coherent waves, both by means of an applied voltage. Typically, the retardance or PS introduced by an LCVR is not homogeneous across the aperture. On the one hand, the LCVR glass substrates present a global bend that causes an overall variation of the retardance or PS. On the other hand, in the manufacturing process of an LCVR, there sometimes appears a set of micro-air bubbles that causes local retardance or PS inhomogeneities. In this work, we present an interferometric technique based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer that is insensitive to vibrations and capable of inspecting and characterizing the LCVR's retardance or PS inhomogeneities. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated in the experimental results, where the LCVR retardance is measured with an error of about 0:2 rad. The thickness of possible micro-air bubbles is obtained with a resolution of about 50 nm.
Description
This paper was published in Applied Optics and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law.
We thank the European Space Agency for economic support of this work given by the “Validation of liquid crystal variable retarders for solar orbiter polarization modulation package” project, reference number 22334/09/NL/SFe.
UCM subjects
Unesco subjects
Keywords
Citation
1. B. Laude-Boulesteix, A. De Martino, B. Drévillon, and L. Schwartz, “Mueller polarimetric imaging system with liquid crystals,” Appl. Opt. 43, 2824–2832 (2004).
2. J. M. Bueno, “Polarimetry using liquid-crystal variable retarders: theory and calibration,” J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 2, 216–222 (2000).
3. L. J. November and L. M.Wilkins, “Liquid crystal polarimeter: a solid state imager for solar vector magnetic fields,” Opt. Eng. 34, 1659–1668 (1995).
4. A. M. Gandorfer, “Instrumentation for optical magnetometry,” in SOLMAG 2002, Proceedings of the Magnetic Coupling of the Solar Atmosphere Euroconference and International Astronomical Union Colloquium (European Space Agency, 2002).
5. M. Born and E. Wolf, “Principles of optics: electromagnetic theory or propagation,” in Interference and Diffraction of Light (Cambridge U. Press, 2002).
6. B. E. A. Saleh and M. C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics (Wiley, 1991).
7. J. C. Kemp, “Piezo-optical birefringence modulators: new use for a long-known effect,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59, 950–953 (1969).
8. R. W. Boyd, Nonlinear Optics (Elsevier, 2008).
9. R. L. Heredero,N. Uribe-Patarroyo, T. Belenguer, G. Ramos, A. Sanchez, M. Reina, V. Martinez Pillet, and A. Álvarez-Herrero, “Liquid-crystal variable retarders for aerospace polarimetry applications,” Appl. Opt. 46, 689–698 (2007).
10. “Validation of liquid crystal variable retarders for solar orbiter polarization modulation package,” European Space Agency, reference number 22334/09/NL/SFe. Consortium formed by the Centre Spatial de Liège, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, and Arcoptix. Visual display led by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial.
11. F. Goudail, P. Terrier, Y. Takakura, L. Bigué, F. Galland, and V. DeVlaminck, “Target detection with a liquid-crystalbased passive Stokes polarimeter,” Appl. Opt. 43, 274–282 (2004).
12. K. Creath, “Phase-measurement interferometry techniques,” Prog. Opt. 34, 349–393 (2005).
13. C. L. Koliopoulos, “Simultaneous phase-shift interferometer,” Proc. SPIE 1531, 119–127 (1992).
14. J. Millerd, N. Brock, J. Hayes, B. Kimbrough, M. Novak, M. North-Morris, and J. Wyant, “Modern approaches in phase measuring metrology,” Proc. SPIE 5856, 14–22 (2005).
15. J. C.Wyant, “Dynamic interferometry,” Opt. Photon. News 14, 36–41 (2003).
16. N. Brock, J. Hayes, B. Kimbrough, J. Millerd, M. North-Morris, M. Novak, and J. Wyant, “Dynamic interferometry,” Proc. SPIE5875, 101–110 (2005).
17. Z. Wang and B. Han, “Advanced iterative algorithm for phase extraction of randomly phase-shifted interferograms,” Opt. Lett. 29, 1671–1673 (2004).
18. L. Z. Cai, Q. Liu, and X. L. Yang, “Phase-shift extraction and wave-front reconstruction in phase-shifting interferometry with arbitrary phase steps,” Opt. Lett. 28, 1808–1810 (2003).
19. Y. Zhisheng, L. Jifang, H. Zhengquan, and L. Yulin, “Measurements of the thickness uniformity of liquid crystal layer,” Appl. Opt. 36, 9109–9110 (1997).
20. F. Mok, J. Diep, H. Liu, and D. Psaltis, “Real-time computergenerated hologram by means of a liquid-crystal television spatial light modulator,” Opt. Lett. 11, 748–750 (1986).
21. N. Demoli, U. Dahms, H. Gruber, and G. Wernicke, “Influence of flatness distortion on the output of a liquid-crystaltelevision-based joint transform correlator system,” Appl. Opt. 36, 8417–8426 (1997).
22. D. Casasent and S. F. Xia, “Phase correction of light modulators,” Opt. Lett. 11, 398–400 (1986).
23. Shyu-Mou Chen, Ru-Pin Pan, and Ci-Ling Pan, “Interferometric measurements of the thickness of nematic liquid crystal films with a free surface,” Appl. Opt. 28, 4969–4971 (1989).