New paper in Crystals with a polarimetric imaging of radial polarizers and q-plates
A new paper is available in the journal Crystals entitled Mueller matrix polarimetric imaging analysis of optical components for the generation of cylindrical vector beams, in a special issue of the journal devoted to Liquid Crystals Optical Devices.
In this work we perform a Mueller matrix imaging analysis of two commercial optical components usually employed to generate and manipulate vector beams—a radial polarizer and a liquid-crystal q-plate. These two elements generate vector beams by different polarization mechanisms—polarizance and retardance, respectively.
The quality of the vector beams relies on the quality of the device that generates them. For this purpose, we applied a customized imaging Mueller matrix polarimeter based on liquid-crystal retarders and a polarization camera. Experimental results were compared to the numerical simulations, considering the theoretical Mueller matrix.
This work was done in collaboration with our colleagues Angel Lizana and Juan Campos from the MIP-Optilab at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in the frame of our coordinated national project.