Geometric optimization method for a polarization state generator of a Mueller matrix microscope.

Abstract

We propose a geometric optimization method combined with the Coulombic energy indicator that can uniformly distribute N polarization states on the Poincaré sphere. Based on this method, we investigate the optimal frames of a rotating polarizer and rotating quarter-wave plate (RPRQ)-based polarization state generator (PSG) at different numbers of modulations. We use the PSG on a dual DoFP polarimeter-based Mueller matrix microscope to measure standard samples and pathological sections for testing the performance of an optimized RPRQ. The experimental results show that this method can effectively restrain noise and improve measurement accuracy.