Passive broadband full Stokes polarimeter using a Fresnel cone

TL;DR

This paper introduces a static, broadband full Stokes polarimeter using a Fresnel cone, capable of measuring polarization states across the visible spectrum without moving parts, offering robustness and cost-effectiveness.

Contribution

The novel static polarimeter design based on a Fresnel cone extends polarization measurement capabilities across a broad wavelength range without birefringent or rotating elements.

Findings

Angular accuracy of 2.9 degrees for elliptical polarization

Degree of polarization measured within 0.12 accuracy

Operates effectively across the visible spectrum

Abstract

Light's polarisation contains information about its source and interactions, from distant stars to biological samples. Polarimeters can recover this information, but reliance on birefringent or rotating optical elements limits their wavelength range and stability. Here we present a static, single-shot polarimeter based on a Fresnel cone - the direct spatial analogue to the popular rotating quarter-wave plate approach. We measure the average angular accuracy to be 2.9 (3.6) degrees for elliptical(linear) polarisation states across the visible spectrum, with the degree of polarisation determined to within 0.12(0.08). Our broadband full Stokes polarimeter is robust, cost-effective, and could find applications in hyper-spectral polarimetry and scanning microscopy.