Thermally stable imaging channeled spectropolarimetry

摘要

Channeled spectropolarimetry can measure the complete polarization state of light as a function of wavelength. Typically, a channeled spectropolarimeter uses high order retarders made of uniaxial crystal to amplitude modulate the measured spectrum with the spectrally-dependent Stokes polarization information. A primary limitation of conventional channeled spectropolarimeters is related to the thermal variability of the retarders. Thermal variation often forces frequent system recalibration, particularly for field deployed systems. However, implementing thermally stable retarders results in an athermal channeled spectropolarimeter that relieves the need for frequent recalibration. Past work has addressed this issue by developing athermalized retarders using two or more uniaxial crystals. Recently, a retarder made of biaxial KTP and cut at a thermally insensitive angle was used to produce an athermal channeled spectropolarimeter. This paper presents the results of the biaxial crystal system and compares the two thermal stabilization techniques in the context of producing an imaging thermally stable channeled spectropolarimeter. A preliminary design for a snapshot imaging channeled spectropolarimeter is also presented.