title: Dual-frequency heterodyne ellipsometer for characterizing generalized elliptically birefringent media.
abstract: This research proposed a dual-frequency heterodyne ellipsometer (DHE) in which a dual-frequency collinearly polarized laser beam with equal amplitude and zero phase difference between p- and s-polarizations is setup. It is based on the polarizer-sample-analyzer, PSA configuration of the conventional ellipsometer. DHE enables to characterize a generalized elliptical phase retarder by treating it as the combination of a linear phase retarder and a polarization rotator. The method for measuring elliptical birefringence of an elliptical phase retarder based on the equivalence theorem of an unitary optical system was derived and the experimental verification by use of DHE was demonstrated too. The experimental results show the capability of DHE on characterization of a generalized phase retardation plate accurately.
authors.affiliation: Department of Optics and Photonics, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chu-En
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ying-Chang
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Li-Dek
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Jheng-Syong
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Cheng-Chung
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chien
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chou