Singularities of interference of three waves with different polarization states

Abstract

We presented the interference setup which can produce interesting two-dimensional patterns in polarization state of the resulting light wave emerging from the setup. The main element of our setup is the Wollaston prism which gives two plane, linearly polarized waves (eigenwaves of both Wollaston's wedges) with linearly changed phase difference between them (along the x-axis). The third wave coming from the second arm of proposed polarization interferometer is linearly or circularly polarized with linearly changed phase difference along the y-axis. The interference of three plane waves with different polarization states (LLL - linear-linear-linear or LLC - linear-linear-circular) and variable change difference produce two-dimensional light polarization and phase distributions with some characteristic points and lines which can be claimed to constitute singularities of different types. The aim of this article is to find all kind of these phase and polarization singularities as well as their classification. We postulated in our theoretical simulations and verified in our experiments different kinds of polarization singularities, depending on which polarization parameter was considered (the azimuth and ellipticity angles or the diagonal and phase angles). We also observed the phase singularities as well as the isolated zero intensity points which resulted from the polarization singularities when the proper analyzer was used at the end of the setup. The classification of all these singularities as well as their relationships were analyzed and described.

Calibration of Measurement of Multiple Polarization Singularities

“…However when measuring the field with rapidly varying distribution of polarization state (such as a field with intensive PSs), the mismatches may be big enough to destroy the distribution of polarization states, for example, the cases in [17], [18] and [19]. Analyzing from the data, we noticed that the size of field shown in …”

“…While phase singularities (wave dislocated, or optical vortices) are frequently encountered in interference of scalar waves [2,3], they resolve into polarization singularities (PSs) when the vector nature of light is retained [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. A large number of papers have studied polarized properties of vector fields [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…Experiments have been successful in generating PSs [13][14][15][16]. However fields with crowded PSs present challenges in measuring the polarization states [17][18][19]. The polarization state of a light beam is completely described by the Stokes parameters [18][19][20].…”

“…However fields with crowded PSs present challenges in measuring the polarization states [17][18][19]. The polarization state of a light beam is completely described by the Stokes parameters [18][19][20]. Indeed, Stokes measurements require wave plates (at least one) and a polarizer to be inserted and rotated in front of the imaging detector, which inevitably modifies the optical wavefront and polarization state of the vector field [17].…”

“…Indeed, Stokes measurements require wave plates (at least one) and a polarizer to be inserted and rotated in front of the imaging detector, which inevitably modifies the optical wavefront and polarization state of the vector field [17]. The modification obviously leads to erroneous experimental results, especially in the case of measurement of field with crowded PSs, such as the case in [18]. This experimental difficulty is also encountered in polarization imaging of speckle in [17] which a method has been proposed to overcome the mismatches by holding the wave plate and polarizer together.…”