A self-calibrating polarimeter to measure Stokes parameters

TL;DR

This paper introduces a self-calibrating polarimeter capable of accurately measuring laser light polarization without complex adjustments, demonstrating its effectiveness in a high-precision physics experiment.

Contribution

It presents a novel in situ calibration method for a polarimeter that is simple to construct and operate, with robustness against laser intensity fluctuations.

Findings

Accurately measures Stokes parameters of laser light.

Effectively detects thermally-induced birefringence in glass plates.

Operates reliably without realignment or removal of optical components.

Abstract

An easily constructed and operated polarimeter precisely determines the relative Stokes parameters that characterize the polarization of laser light. The polarimeter is calibrated in situ without removing or realigning its optical elements, and it is largely immune to fluctuations in the laser beam intensity. The polarimeter's usefulness is illustrated by measuring thermally-induced birefringence in the indium-tin-oxide coated glass field plates used to produce a static electric field in the ACME collaboration's measurement of the electron electric dipole moment.