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Sensitivity-guided illumination engineering for coherent Fourier ellipsometry
Optics Letters
|July 31, 2026
Summary
Coherent Fourier ellipsometry (CFE) uses advanced imaging and computation for thin-film analysis. Elliptical polarization enhances sensitivity and separability in CFE, offering a practical approach for adaptive illumination engineering.
Area of Science:
- Optical Metrology
- Thin-Film Analysis
- Computational Imaging
Background:
- Coherent Fourier ellipsometry (CFE) offers flexible thin-film metrology.
- High-numerical-aperture imaging and computational reconstruction are key CFE components.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a sensitivity-analysis framework for polarization engineering in CFE.
- To optimize incident polarization for improved thin-film metrology.
Main Methods:
- Vectorial forward model based on high-NA Fourier-field propagation.
- Analysis of focused light field sensitivity.
- Introduction of absolute and normalized sensitivity matrices.
Main Results:
- Elliptically polarized illumination enhances joint parameter sensitivity and separability.
- Comparison of elliptical versus linear polarization states.
- Identification of optimal polarization states for CFE.
Conclusions:
- The proposed framework enables practical adaptive illumination engineering in CFE.
- Polarization engineering is crucial for optimizing CFE performance.
- CFE with optimized polarization advances thin-film metrology capabilities.
