Abstract

We propose a fast method for measuring optical properties, e.g., the refractive index profile and birefringence, of fibers. It is based on recovering the phase distribution of light refracted by a fiber sample at the recording plane from a single-shot digital hologram. During the recovering process, an optimized approach based on the spatial carrier frequency method was utilized. The proposed approach enhances affects that arise from the limited spatial extent of the bandpass filter associated with the implementation of the spatial carrier frequency method. In contrast to the low spatial resolution of off-axis digital holograms, the method ensures the best utilization of the camera support. From the recovered phase information, the optical path difference is measured; thus, the refractive index profile, the mean refractive index, and the birefringence of isotactic polypropylene (IPP) are determined. Experimental results are given for illustration.

© 2015 Optical Society of America