Simple method of the birefringent media properties determination

The simple and easy methods of determining the important birefringent medium parameters have been presented. These methods allow us to measure some important quantities of the medium: the azimuth angle and the ellipticity angle of the first medium eigenvector, the phase difference introduced by the medium and intensity transmission coefficients of the two eigenwaves. The main idea of the methods described is based on the measurement of the four intensities of the linearly polarized light passed both: through the investigated medium, and through the medium and linear analyzer.     

Refraction holodiagrams between two birefringent materials

Holodiagrams developed by Abramson and known as tools that permit the analysis of the geometrical aspects related to different optical phenomena are here extended to include the more general case when the elements that change the direction of light propagation are refractive and are composed by two birefringent uniaxial materials. The constructed holodiagrams consider the cases for the extraordinary rays for the most general orientations of both optical axes.The curves obtained, representing the loci of equal optical path between a source point in one medium and an observation point in the other, show a complicated shape that differs from that already known for isotropic materials. Some peculiar non-trivial facts are found in this way, such as surfaces of no deviation and generalized Fresnel zone plates to conjugate object points in one medium with image points in the other or in the same in the presence of arbitrarily shaped interfaces. The total reflection phenomenon in the interface between such materials is also considered.     

Loss-reduced highly birefringent selectively liquid-filled photonic crystal fibers

We have theoretically investigated the birefringence and loss properties of the selectively liquid-filled photonic crystal fibers with the liquid asymmetrically infiltrated into one-line air holes along x-axis. A high birefringence value B = 1.74 × 10⁻³ can be achieved at λ = 1.55 μm. By varying the index of the infiltrating liquid, the birefringence values are shown to be well tuned. In addition, the confinement losses can be efficiently reduced by diminishing the number of liquid holes, which is quite useful for optical devices.     

Terahertz polarization imaging

We present a new method to measure the polarization state of a terahertz pulse by using a modified electro-optic sampling setup. To illustrate the power of this method, we show two examples in which the knowledge of the polarization of the terahertz pulse is essential for interpreting the results: spectroscopy measurements on polystyrene foam and terahertz images of a plastic coin. Both measurements show a sample-induced rotation of the terahertz electric field vector, which is surprisingly large and is a strong function of frequency. A promising aspect of our setup is the possibility of simultaneously measuring both transversal electric field components.     

Four layer polymeric mode polarization filter for integrated optics

We report on our systematic study of fabrication and characterization of four-layer polymer waveguides. Various optical properties (such as refractive index, birefringence, and propagation loss) of polycarbonate and polystyrene waveguides are presented. The thin film structure consisting of glass/polycarbonate/polystyrene/air has been used for demonstrating polarization filter action because the two polymers are quite different with respect to their optical anisotropy. Modal electric field plots for both TE and TM are generated to support the observed behavior. It is also observed that the four-layer lightguide exhibits relatively low loss values compared to the monolayer configuration.     

Polarization detection with polarization interference imaging spectrometer

A new method of measuring the intensity and state of polarization of optical radiation by means of the high resolution polarization interference imaging spectrometer (PIIS) is introduced and theoretically investigated in this paper. The error accuracy analysis is proposed, and it is proved that the system is very stable and precise in theory. In this new way, the polarized characteristics of light could be taken good use to analyze and distinguish objects in passive remote sensing with the PIIS, which means that the polarization interference imaging spectrometer now can be used not only as cameras and interferometers but also as polaristrobometers.     

Two-component gadget for transforming any two nonorthogonal polarization states into one another

We present an algorithm for transforming an arbitrary input polarization state into a nonorthogonal but otherwise arbitrary output polarization state, by using two quarter-wave retarders. Such an array reduces the number of retarders employed in the well-known Simon–Mukunda gadget, which consists of one half-wave and two quarter-wave retarders. The latter was designed to realize arbitrary SU(2)$\mathit{SU}(2)$ transformations on qubits. The gadget presented here accomplishes a related task, allowing to transforming an input qubit into a target qubit, by choosing a particular SU(2)$\mathit{SU}(2)$ transformation that is realizable with two quarter-wave plates.     

The correlation between frequency difference and mode polarization in an intracavity birefringent dual-frequency laser

We discuss the correlations between the measured lasing-mode frequency difference and the mode polarization angle in an intracavity birefringent dual-frequency laser. The frequency difference and polarization are adjusted by rotating an intracavity quartz crystal through a large angular range. We propose two kinds of frequency difference: the equal-order frequency difference and the adjacent frequency difference. By measuring the equal-order frequency difference versus the quartz crystal rotation angle, the real physical process behind frequency splitting is revealed. Based on this, the adjacent frequency difference curve is also obtained. The emitted laser beam polarization angle is also measured for large rotations of the intracavity quartz crystal. These measurements reveal the complete process of optical activity in frequency splitting and allow us to predict the trends of frequency difference and polarization angle for large quartz crystal rotation angles. We analyze the correlations between the equal-order frequency difference and the polarization angle based on the experimental results, which show that the certain points on the two curves are inter-related. The principal results agree well with the optical theory of crystals.     

Temperature-sensitive dual-segment polarization maintaining fiber Sagnac loop mirror

A new temperature-sensitive fiber Sagnac loop mirror (FLM) is proposed using two segments of polarization maintaining fiber (PMF). The proposed dual-segment FLM provides greater temperature sensitivity in the spectral spacing detuning compared to the conventional single-segment configuration. Besides, the proposed configuration also enables both efficient positive and negative spectral spacing detuning by rising the temperature of one of the PMF segments. The experimental results show that the proposed configuration has achieved a great improvement in increasing spectral spacing variation range by 6.6 times and an increment of temperature sensitivity as much as 337.6% as compared to the conventional configuration.     

Sensitivity limitation by polarization and birefraction in IORG

Integrated optical resonance gyroscope (IORG), with the ring resonator fabricated by micro-techniques, has the advantage of miniaturization, integration, and low cost. Theoretical calculation shows its potential ability in getting high sensitivity. However, the current IORG sensitivity is restricted by optical parasitical noises aggravated by involving high coherent laser source. Polarization fluctuation is one of the dominant noise sources in waveguide resonator. The effect on polarization noise in IORG by three main parameters: state of polarization of the input light, polarization-maintaining quality of the waveguide, and temperature fluctuation of the peripheral environment, has been theoretically analyzed and experimentally tested. An improved layout, with a Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC) acting as both modulator and polarizer, is presented to suppress the polarization noise in IORG. The results show that the bias instability of IORG caused by polarization noise is greatly reduced from 1.57°/s to 0.005°/s.     

Highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber polarization splitter made of soft glass

A soft glass dual core polarization splitter based on highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed and the full vector finite element method (FEM) is employed to analyze the impacts of structural parameters on birefringence and the coupling length, and simulation results show that high birefringence on the order of 10⁻² can be obtained at 1.55 μm, moreover, hole size, hole pitch and elliptic ratio all affect birefringence and the coupling length. Based on these results, the PCF's structure is optimized to realize a polarization splitter of 282 μm whose largest extinction ratio is around −45.42 dB at 1.55 μm. Meanwhile, the bandwidth at the extinction ratio of −10 dB is about 90 nm, and around 32 nm at −20 dB.     

Imaging characteristics of a birefringent lens under broadband illumination

This paper reports the imaging characteristics of an optical system consisting of a lens made of a uniaxial birefringent crystal sandwiched between two linear polarizers under polychromatic input illumination. The optic axis of the birefringent crystal is perpendicular to the lens axis and for an initial investigation, the spectral profile of the input beam is considered to be uniform for all wavelengths. The study reveals that if the variation of the birefringence parameters of the device with the wavelength is less, a larger bandwidth may be used without considerably deviating from the imaging characteristics under strictly monochromatic illumination. The nonlinear variation of birefringence with wavelength results in an asymmetric axial irradiance distribution. This obviates an optimal operating wavelength as well as a proper choice of the lens material. It is found that no appreciable change in image quality under diffraction-limited condition results for an input beam having 632 nm operating wavelength and 60 nm bandwidth. Therefore, it may be feasible to use this system with a white light source in conjunction with a wavelength-selective filter.     

Electro-optic modulation of light propagating near the optic axis with any polarization in uniaxial crystals

The electro-optic effect in uniaxial crystals for light propagating near the optic axis with any polarization has been analyzed. The passive and the electrically induced birefringences and the rotation of polarization direction in crystals have been calculated, and the conoscopic interference figures under orthogonal polariscopes for different polarizer directions have been plotted. The extinction areas caused by the rotation of polarization direction in crystals change with the polarizer direction, but the two heads of the induced optical axes do not vary, which are always on the induced principal axis with bigger refractive index. The directions of polariscopes are always extinction, and the ±45° directions with polarizer are always complete transmission. The conoscopic interference figures for LiNbO₃ crystals have been demonstrated experimentally by rotating polariscopes directions, which accord with the theoretically calculating plots.     

Terahertz polarization splitter based on an asymmetric dual-core photonic crystal fiber

By employing the liquid crystal refractive index changes induced by applied electric field, a novel terahertz polarization splitter with tunable the operating frequency and bandwidths has been proposed and theoretically analyzed. It possesses an extinction ratio as high as the polarization splitters based on the two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides. These distinguished features ensure its important applications in the integrated optical systems.     

Theoretical and experimental study of differential group delay and polarization dependent loss of Bragg gratings written in birefringent fiber

In this paper, we completely study the wavelength dependency of differential group delay (DGD) and polarization dependent loss (PDL) for Bragg gratings written in birefringent fibers. Based on the coupled mode theory, we present analytical expressions for the evolution with wavelength of the transmission coefficient, the DGD and the PDL. The wavelength dependencies of these evolutions on the birefringence are then discussed. Experimental results are finally presented for an apodized FBG written in a bow-tie fiber. A very good agreement between theory and experience is reported, confirming the validity of the theoretical analysis.     

Active polarization imaging system to discriminate adaptively with diagonal Mueller matrix

A promising method to optimize the polarization state of two-channel active polarization imaging system is presented. In this method, it is seminal that the detecting function of the imaging system is regarded as a discriminant projection of the observed objects’ polarization features (elements of the Mueller matrix). The polarization state can be seen as a physical classifier which can be obtained by training samples. The image acquired with the system that has the designed optimal polarization state become discriminative results directly. The effectiveness of the proposed method and the discriminative ability of the optimal polarization state are demonstrated by the experimental results.     

Designing of endlessly single mode polarization maintaining highly birefringent nonlinear micro-structure fiber at telecommunication window by FV-FEM

An endlessly single mode highly polarization maintaining nonlinear microstructure fiber at telecommunication window is reported via full-vector finite element method. By taking three ring hexagonal PCF with suitable fiber parameter such as air hole diameter in cladding region d = 0.8 μm, pitch 2.3 μm and introducing four symmetrical large air holes near core region d′ = 2 μm, single mode (V_eff ≤ π), small effective mode area 2.7 μm², nonlinear co-efficient 44.39 W⁻¹ km⁻¹, high phase birefringence of the order of 10⁻³ and group birefringence of the order of 10⁻⁴ with beat length 0.3 μm at wavelength 1.55 μm are achieved.     

Waves and rays in uniaxial birefringent crystals

In this paper, we present a more elaborate and complete way of the formalism that we have developed in successive steps for ray tracing through uniaxial birefringent media in view of the optical design. With the obtained formulas we analyze in detail what we see through a cleavage calcite crystal.     

Relative calibration for a polarization interference imaging spectrometer

A polarization interference imaging spectrometer (PIIS) for remote sensing is developed. Its operation principle and typical configuration are introduced. A polarization beam-splitter is its key component. The principle of calibration for the PIIS is introduced. The results of relative calibration for the PIIS are given. After the calibration, the responding uniformity of the detector of the PIIS to an expanded uniform light source is largely improved and the quality of the pictures obtained by the PIIS is obviously clear and accurate to the aims. Some applications and expectations of a PIIS are put forward.