Abstract

We propose image processing algorithms for measuring two-dimensional distributions of linear birefringence using a pair of variable retarders. Several algorithms that use between two and five recorded frames allow us to optimize measurements for speed, sensitivity, and accuracy. We show images of asters, which consist of radial arrays of microtubule polymers recorded with a polarized light microscope equipped with a universal compensator. Our experimental results confirm our theoretical expectations. The lowest noise level of 0.036 nm was obtained when we used the five-frame technique and four-frame algorithm without extinction setting. The two-frame technique allows us to increase the speed of measurement with acceptable image quality.

© 2003 Optical Society of America

Complete polarization state generator with one variable retarder and its application for fast and sensitive measuring of two-dimensional birefringence distribution

Michael Shribak
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 28(3) 410-419 (2011)

Two-dimensional measurement technique for birefringence vector distributions: measurement principle

Yongchang Zhu, Takehiro Koyama, Tatsuo Takada, and Yoshihiro Murooka
Appl. Opt. 38(11) 2225-2231 (1999)

Two-dimensional birefringence measurement technique using a polarization camera

Connor Lane, David Rode, and Thomas Rösgen
Appl. Opt. 60(27) 8435-8444 (2021)

Two-dimensional measurement technique for birefringence vector distributions: data processing and experimental verification

Yongchang Zhu, Takehiro Koyama, Tatsuo Takada, Yoshihiro Murooka, and Toshihisa Otsuka
Appl. Opt. 38(11) 2216-2224 (1999)

Simple technique for the measurement of two-dimensional linear retardation distributions of wave plates with a phase-shifting Nomarski prism

Sanjib Chatterjee and Y. Pavan Kumar
Appl. Opt. 47(7) 874-882 (2008)