title: High extinction polarimeter for the precision measurement of the in-plane optical anisotropy of molecular monolayers.
abstract: A polarimeter using selected Glan-Thompson polarizers, a spatially filtered probe laser beam, precision polarizer orientation, and spatially filtered output coupling into an optical fiber achieves a static extinction ratio between crossed and parallel polarizer and analyzer orientations of I(perpendicular)/I(parallel) approximately = 2 x 10(-10). This instrument allows the detection of retardance as small as 0.0015 nm to better than 1%, enabling the first detailed study of the in-plane birefringence of molecular monolayers. We demonstrate the performance of the polarimeter with measurements of the photoinduced birefringence of azobenzene-based monolayers self-assembled on glass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Guanjiu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maclennan
authors.forename: Noel A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D008027:Light; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D055100:Optical Fibers; D055620:Optical Phenomena
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; C009850:azobenzene