New polarization-state control scheme: Polarization recombining

Abstract

A new automatic polarization-state control scheme called “polarization recombining” is proposed and verified experimentally. The system consists of a polarization beam splitter (a Wollaston prism), a 90° linear polarization rotator, an endless phase shifter and a beam combiner (a half mirror). It features endlessness (resetting-free) in control, and in particular, the state-of-polarization of the output light from the system is always linear with a fixed inclination angle. The latter feature is achieved without the aid of a polarimeter.