Design of a polarimeter with two ferroelectric liquid crystal panels

摘要

We present a Stokes polarimeter based on two ferroelectric liquid crystal monopixel panels. This architecture presents advantages associated to dynamic polarimeters and also, allows very fast polarization measurements. A ferroelectric liquid crystal panel can be modeled as a waveplate with a constant retardance and, with two possible orientations for its fast axis when a bipolar electrical sign is addressed. We have calibrated the optical features of our ferroelectric liquid crystal panels: retardance and rotation of the optical axis. In addition, we have carried out an optimization of the orientation of these panels in the setup in order to obtain a minimum condition number of our polarimeter and so, minimize the propagation of noise. Afterwards, we have conducted a tolerance analysis of the elements involved in the setup, focusing for a 2% of accuracy in the Stokes vectors measurements. Then, an experimental calibration is carried out and several measurements are taken in order to analyze its performance.