title: Full-field birefringence imaging by thermal-light polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography. I. Theory.
abstract: A method for measuring birefringence by use of thermal-light polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography is presented. The use of thermal light brings to polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography a resolution in the micrometer range in three dimensions. The instrument is based on a Linnik interference microscope and makes use of achromatic quarter-wave plates. A mathematical representation of the instrument is presented here, and the detection scheme is described, together with a discussion of the validity domain of the equations used to evaluate the birefringence in the presence of white-light illumination.
authors.affiliation: Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris, Laboratoire d'Optique Physique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Unité Propre de Recherche 5, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Loriette
authors.forename: Albert-Claude
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Boccara