POLARIZATION PROPERTIES OF CUBE-CORNER RETROREFLECTORS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON SIGNAL STRENGTH AND NONLINEARITY IN HETERODYNE INTERFEROMETERS

摘要

The polarization properties of solid-state cube-corner retroreflectors, which are uncoated glass or metal-coated glass on the reflecting surfaces, are examined analytically and compared. Experimental verifications are presented for the case of linearly polarized incident light. When the uncoated cube-corner is used in a heterodyne interferometer, the polarization properties reveal that the axial orientation of the corner reflector has an effect on the strength of the beat signal and the nonlinearity error. A theoretical analysis of the effect is presented together with experimental results. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America [References: 11]