Abstract
This paper presents a new optical configuration for measuring the phase retardation of optical linear birefringent materials. Phase retardation is measured by a heterodyne light source, which is generated by a Zeeman laser. The measurement system has advantages as a simple optical setup, high stability, small size, and portable owing to the configuration and the use of a Zeeman laser. Using the ratio of amplitudes from two measured heterodyne signals, a simple algorithm can obtain the phase retardation directly. Moreover, we can extend dynamic range of the phase retardation measurement to be 180° successfully. According to the experimental results, the average absolute error for the phase retardation of λ/4-wave plate sample is determined to be only 2.7%.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 191-194 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Key Engineering Materials |
Volume | 326-328 I |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2006 Jan 1 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Materials Science(all)
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering