Linear calibration and reconstruction techniques for channeled spectropolarimetry

Area of Science:

• Optical Physics
• Spectroscopy
• Polarimetry

Background:

• Accurate measurement of spectral and polarization properties of light is crucial in various scientific fields.
• Existing techniques may face limitations in capturing all Stokes components simultaneously or handling non-ideal system effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a novel technique called channeled spectropolarimetry for comprehensive light analysis.
• To develop a practical calibration and reconstruction method that addresses non-ideal instrumental effects.

Main Methods:

• Channeled spectropolarimetry utilizes amplitude modulation to encode Stokes component spectra into a single optical power spectrum.
• The spectropolarimeter is modeled as a linear operator (matrix), estimated during calibration.
• Reconstruction involves pseudoinverting the calibration matrix with object space constraints to correct for dispersion and spectral resolution limits.

Main Results:

• The developed calibration and reconstruction approach effectively accounts for non-ideal effects like retarder dispersion and spectrometer resolution.
• Experimental results demonstrate the accuracy of the channeled spectropolarimetry technique when compared to reference measurements.
• The technique was successfully applied to characterize time-varying, stress-induced birefringence.

Conclusions:

• Channeled spectropolarimetry offers a robust and practical method for measuring the spectral and polarization content of light.
• The developed system calibration and reconstruction strategy enhances measurement accuracy by mitigating instrumental non-idealities.
• This technique shows promise for applications requiring detailed characterization of optical properties, including dynamic phenomena like birefringence.