Abstract

Optical instrument and component fabrication often involves sensitive measurements of the polarization state of light. A common way of determining the polarizing properties of a sample is to place it between crossed polarizers. The crossed-polarizer method is easy to perform and to understand, but it is not sensitive enough for many applications because the intensity signal is proportional to the square of the electric field. When the electric field is very small, the intensity signal may be so small that it cannot be measured with any meaningful resolution.

© 1996 Optical Society of America