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

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.