Novel method for measurement of retardance of a quarter-wave plate

✍ Scribed by Zheng Ping Wang; Qing Bo Li; Qiao Tan; Zong Jun Huang; Jin Hui Shi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 289 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0030-3992
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optlastec.2003.09.011

✦ Synopsis

A novel and simple method used for measurement of retardance of a quarter-wave plate employing two polaroids and a right-angle prism is reported. The theoretical analysis of the principle is given taking the Jones matrix as a mathematical tool. The uncertainty of the method is theoretically analyzed. An application example is also given. The measured result of the example is veriÿed with a test. The main advantage of this method is that it can completely determine the retardance value, which overcomes the shortcomings of the existing methods reported before for determining only the multi-value function values, such as cosine or tangent value of the retardance. In addition, this method is also accurate, easy to operate and can also be used for the retardance measurement of other retardation plates.