title: Attenuation characterization of multiple combinations of imperfect polarizers.
abstract: Malus's law, when used to calculate the attenuation ratio of the combination of two imperfect polarizers (two-CIP), will introduce an error, especially near the crossed-axis orientation. In this paper, first, the Jones matrix of the imperfect polarizer is deduced and an exact algorithm of the attenuation ratio of the two-CIP is proposed as well as its monotonic attenuation interval. Experimental results confirm that our deduced expression is more accurate than Malus's law. Then based on this algorithm, an attenuation-ratio expression of the combination of three imperfect polarizers (three-CIP) is presented. In this three-CIP model, it is found that when the electric field amplitude ratio of the imperfect polarizer is epsilon, the attenuation ratio can change from 1 to epsilon(4) monotonically in a general model when P(1) and P(3) are rotated and P(2) is fixed, which is proved by experiment. Finally, it is deduced that the combination of n imperfect polarizers (n-CIP) can obtain a minimum attenuation ratio of epsilon(2(n-1)), which indicates the number of imperfect polarizers needed to achieve the required attenuation ratio.
authors.affiliation: College of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Haiqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhaoshu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liao