High-accuracy IR polarimetry of waveguide optical elements

摘要

This paper discusses the main physical factors that affect the accuracy with which the polarization characteristics of waveguide optical elements are measured: distortions of the polarization when radiation is being introduced (focused) into optical waveguides, elastic strains of fiber lightguides when they are being attached, and depolarization of the radiation at inhomogeneities and defects of waveguides. An experimental apparatus for polarimetric studies of fiber and integrated-optics devices is described, in which the relative power of the polarization noise can be estimated to within 10(-5) at a wavelength of 1.32 mu m. The distribution of the degree of polarization of IR radiation in the cross section of a light beam is measured at the output of a single-mode lightguide, and the results are presented of measurements of the depolarization of IR radiation in locally deformed single- and multimode lightguides, a fiber coil polarizer, and straight and bent integrated-optics channel waveguides. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.