Polarization, thin-film optics, ellipsometry, and polarimetry: Retrospective

Abstract

As plenary speaker at the 2019 ICSE-8 Conference in Barcelona, Spain, the author was invited to review several of his published contributions to polarization optics of interfaces and thin films, ellipsometry, and polarimetry over the past 50 years. This paper is an abridged account of his oral presentation. The author reconsiders the reflection of p- and s-polarized and unpolarized light at dielectric-dielectric and dielectric-conductor interfaces and obtains interesting results. For example, the author shows how the retrieval of the reflection phase shift of s-polarized light from p and s intensity reflectance data enables the determination of the complex dielectric function of an absorbing medium on a wavelength-by-wavelength basis without ellipsometry or Kramers–Kronig analysis. Novel achromatic and angle-insensitive single- and four-reflection wave retarders are presented that are particularly suited for the near IR. The author also shows how binary-thickness thin-film optical coatings on a high-index substrate can generate binary spatial and temporal polarization modulation by reflection. Finally, O'Bryan's 1936 vacuum ellipsometer is revisited and the author shows how it can be adapted for the measurement of the optical properties of absorbing liquids using attenuated total reflection spectroscopic ellipsometry.