Efficient polarization direction measurement by utilizing the polarization axis finder and digital image processing

Abstract

We report a new quantitative measurement method of polarization direction based on the polarization axis finder (PAF) and digital image processing. The PAF acts as an azimuthal analyzer to determine the polarization direction of linearly polarized light and form an "hourglass" intensity pattern, and a digital camera is employed to record the pattern, and then the lightwave's polarization direction is obtained accurately by analyzing the pattern with a specially designed digital image processing algorithm. The quantitative measuring experiments have been carried out by validating the standard quartz plates with known rotation angles, and the measurement accuracy has reached 0.01°.