Single-shot measurement of space varying polarization state of light through interferometric quantification of geometric phase

TL;DR

This paper introduces a single-shot interferometric method to measure the spatially varying polarization state of light by quantifying the geometric phase, enabling rapid and precise polarization mapping.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel single-shot technique using interferometry to determine complex space-varying polarization states through geometric phase measurement.

Findings

Successfully recovered full polarization information from interference patterns.

Demonstrated potential for real-time polarization mapping in various applications.

Applicable to diverse fields like astronomy and biomedical imaging.

Abstract

Light beam carrying spatially varying state of polarization generates space varying Pancharatnam-Berry geometric phase while propagating through homogeneous anisotropic medium. We show that determination of such space varying geometric phase provides a unique way to quantify the space varying polarization state of light using a single-shot interferometric measurement. We demonstrate this concept in a Mach-Zehnder interferometric arrangement using a linearly polarized reference light beam, where full information on the spatially varying polarization state is successfully recovered by quantifying the space varying geometric phase and the contrast of interference. The proposed method enables single-shot measurement of any space varying polarization state of light from the measured interference pattern with a polarized reference beam. This approach shows considerable potential for instantaneous mapping of complex space varying polarization of light in diverse applications, such as astronomy, biomedical imaging, nanophotonics, etc., where high precision and near real-time measurement of spatial polarization patterns are desirable.