Maximizing Young fringe visibility with a universal SU2 polarization gadget

Abstract

When a Young interferometer is fed by a general electromagnetic field, the fringe visibility may change upon insertion of an anisotropic optical element over one of the interferometer pinholes. The maximum visibility that the fringes may exhibit in this way is theoretically known, but no direct experimental check seems to be available. Here we discuss the scheme of an experimental test. In particular, maximum fringe visibility is obtained with a three-component universal SU2 polarization gadget for arbitrary coherence features of the illuminating field. Confirming results obtained with a suitable experimental setup are presented.

Simple undergraduate experiment for synthesizing and analyzing non-uniformly polarized beams by means of a Fresnel biprism

“…Moreover, interference with polarized light allows one to obtain relevant information about its polarization and coherence characteristics. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] In addition, numerous works deal with the interference of polarized light from a didactic point of view. Some of them are focused on the experimental confirmation of the Fresnel-Arago laws with Young's double slit experiment.…”