Active compensation of extrinsic polarization errors using adaptive optics

TL;DR

This paper introduces an adaptive optical system that actively compensates for complex extrinsic polarization errors using real-time measurements and a liquid crystal modulator, improving polarization control in optical systems.

Contribution

It presents a novel active compensation scheme for extrinsic polarization errors utilizing an imaging polarimeter and a liquid crystal modulator for real-time correction.

Findings

Effective compensation of birefringent specimens demonstrated

Real-time polarization correction achieved

System adaptable to various birefringent perturbations

Abstract

We present a scheme for active compensation of complex extrinsic polarization perturbations introduced into an optical system. Imaging polarimeter is used to measure the polarization state across a beam profile and a liquid crystal spatial light modulator controls the polarization of the input beam. A sequence of measurements permits determination of the birefringence properties of a perturbing specimen. The necessary correction is calculated and fed back to the polarization modulator to compensate for the polarization perturbation. The system capabilities are demonstrated on a range of birefringent specimens.