Photoelastic Modulator Research Articles

A high retardation-amplitude photoelastic modulator study for an ultra-high speed infrared spectroscopy remote sensing measurement system

The currently allowable photoelastic modulator based Fourier transform spectrometer (PEM-FTS) retardation-amplitude is low, and spectral resolution is relatively poor. This paper presents a method for high retardation-amplitude whose PEM is based on microtrapezoidal photoelastic crystals and Herriott-PEM. The retardation-amplitude of the improved PEM is about 19 times larger than an ordinary PEM. The ultra-high speed infrared spectroscopy remote measurement prototype is designed based on high retardation-amplitude PEM. The best spectral resolution of the prototype is 4 cm−1, and the zero-crossing single sided interferogram scanning time is less than 5 µs.

Rapid full Mueller matrix imaging polarimetry based on the hybrid phase modulation technique

In this work, we present a novel method of Mueller matrix imaging polarimetry, which comprises dual liquid crystal variable retarders at the polarization generation portion and a photoelastic modulator at the polarization analysis portion. The light source can be operated either in the continuous mode, which provides an in-situ calibration process for the liquid crystal variable retarders, or in the pulse mode to deduce the full two-dimensional Mueller matrix with 16 images from the camera. We measured the Mueller matrix images of air as a standard test, as well as a quarter wave plate to determine its azimuthal angle and phase retardation by the polar decomposition technique. Finally, the decomposed Mueller matrix images of a biopolymer specimen with the conformational change produced by heat treatment are presented.

Tokamak-independent software analysis suite for multi-spectral line-polarization MSE diagnostics.

A tokamak-independent analysis suite has been developed to process data from Motional Stark Effect (mse) diagnostics. The software supports multi-spectral line-polarization mse diagnostics which simultaneously measure emission at the mse σ and π lines as well as at two "background" wavelengths that are displaced from the mse spectrum by a few nanometers. This analysis accurately estimates the amplitude of partially polarized background light at the σ and π wavelengths even in situations where the background light changes rapidly in time and space, a distinct improvement over traditional "time-interpolation" background estimation. The signal amplitude at many frequencies is computed using a numerical-beat algorithm which allows the retardance of the mse photo-elastic modulators (pem's) to be monitored during routine operation. It also allows the use of summed intensities at multiple frequencies in the calculation of polarization direction, which increases the effective signal strength and reduces sensitivity to pem retardance drift. The software allows the polarization angles to be corrected for calibration drift using a system that illuminates the mse diagnostic with polarized light at four known polarization angles within ten seconds of a plasma discharge. The software suite is modular, parallelized, and portable to other facilities.

Design of quasi-one-dimensional phononic crystal cavity for efficient photoelastic modulation

We propose and design a phononic crystal (PnC) cavity for efficient photoelastic modulation. A strongly confined acoustic field in the cavity enhances light-sound interaction, which results in efficient phase modulation of light. As one of the possible configurations, an acoustic cavity formed in a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) PnC was investigated. By carefully tuning geometrical parameters, we successfully designed a high-Q cavity mode for a longitudinal wave within a complete phononic band gap. The acoustic Q was calculated to be as high as 9.5 × 104. This enables efficient optical modulation by a factor of 2.5 compared with a bar-type structure without PnCs.

Initial operation of a newly developed multichord motional Stark effect diagnostic in KSTAR.

A photo-elastic modulator based 25-chord motional Stark effect (MSE) diagnostic has been successfully developed and commissioned in Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research. The diagnostic measures the radial magnetic pitch angle profile of the Stark splitting of a D-alpha line at 656.1 nm by the electric field associated with the neutral deuterium heating beam. A tangential view of the neutral beam provides a good spatial resolution of 1-3 cm for covering the major radius from 1.74 m to 2.28 m, and the time resolution is achieved at 10 ms. An in-vessel calibration before the vacuum closing as well as an in situ calibration during the tokamak operation was performed by means of specially designed polarized lighting sources. In this work, we present the final design of the installed MSE diagnostic and the first results of the commissioning.

Calibration of photoelastic modulator based dichrometers: maintaining constant phase across the spectrum

Photoelastic modulators can alter the polarization state of a beam of ultraviolet, visible or infrared photons by means of periodic stress-induced differences in the refractive index of a transparent material that forms the optical element of the device and is isotropic in the absence of stress. They have found widespread application in instruments that characterize or alter the polarization state of a beam in fields as diverse as astronomy, structural biology, materials science and ultraviolet lithography for the manufacture of nano-scale integrated circuits. Measurement of circular dichroism, the differential absorption of left- and right circularly polarized light, and of strain-induced birefringence of optical components are major applications. Instruments using synchrotron radiation and photoelastic modulators with CaF2 optical elements have extended circular dichroism measurements down to wavelengths of about 130 nm in the vacuum ultraviolet. Maintaining a constant phase shift between two orthogonal polarization states across a spectrum requires that the amplitude of the modulated stress be changed as a function of wavelength. For commercially available photoelastic modulators, the voltage that controls the amplitude of modulation required to produce a specified phase shift, which is a surrogate for the stress modulation amplitude, has been shown to be an approximately linear function of wavelength in the spectral region where the optical element is transparent. But, extrapolations of such straight lines cross zero voltage at a non-zero wavelength, not at zero-wavelength. For modulators with calcium fluoride and fused silica optical elements, the zero-crossing wavelength is always in the spectral region where the optical element of the modulator strongly absorbs the incident radiation, and at a wavelength less than the longest-wavelength apparent resonance deduced from experimental values of the refractive index fit to the Sellmeier equation. Using a model that relates the refractive indices of a stressed optical element to the refractive index of its unstressed state, an expression for the modulator control voltage was derived that closely fits the experimental data. This result provides a theoretical rational for the apparently linear constant-phase programming voltage, and thus provides theoretical backing for the calibration procedure frequently used for these modulators. Other factors that can influence the calibration of a photoelastic modulator, including temperature and atmospheric pressure, are discussed briefly.

A photoelastic-modulator-based motional Stark effect polarimeter for ITER that is insensitive to polarized broadband background reflections.

A motional Stark effect polarimeter insensitive to polarized broadband light is proposed. Partially polarized background light is anticipated to be a significant source of systematic error for the ITER polarimeter. The proposed polarimeter is based on the standard dual photoelastic modulator approach, but with the introduction of a birefringent delay plate, it generates a sinusoidal spectral filter instead of the usual narrowband filter. The period of the filter is chosen to match the spacing of the orthogonally polarized Stark effect components, thereby increasing the effective signal level, but resulting in the destructive interference of the broadband polarized light. The theoretical response of the system to an ITER like spectrum is calculated and the broadband polarization tolerance is verified experimentally.

Gyration and Permittivity of Ethylenediammonium Sulfate Crystals.

Ethylenediammonium sulfate (EDS) crystals were grown from aqueous solution and cleaved into thin (100-500 micron) plates. The 422 point group of EDS was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The constitutive relations of EDS crystals were determined through generalized ellipsometry with an instrument that uses four photoelastic modulators (4PEM). The optical rotation at 500 nm, for example, was + 22.9°/mm along the optic axis and - 12.1°/mm perpendicular to the optic axis for the P41 21 2 crystals. Enantiomorphous twins frequently form across the (001) plane. Mirrored halves must be separated by cleavage in advance of optical measurements. Chirality 28:460-465, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Magnetooptical spectrometer based on photoelastic modulator with optical feedback and its application in study of f-electron materials

A spectroscopic apparatus for measurement of magnetooptical and optical properties of f-electron materials has been designed and established using a polarization modulation technique based on photoelastic modulator with optical feedback. The magnetooptical system is able to provide a sensitivity of 0.004arc-deg at the wavelength of 380nm. The versatile applications of the spectrometer have been verified by the measurements of the magnetic circular polarized luminescence and Faraday rotation angle in holmium- and terbium-containing garnet crystals.

Rapid wide-field Mueller matrix polarimetry imaging based on four photoelastic modulators with no moving parts.

A new polarimetry method is demonstrated to image the entire Mueller matrix of a turbid sample using four photoelastic modulators (PEMs) and a charge coupled device (CCD) camera, with no moving parts. Accurate wide-field imaging is enabled with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) optical gating technique and an evolutionary algorithm (EA) that optimizes imaging times. This technique accurately and rapidly measured the Mueller matrices of air, polarization elements, and turbid phantoms. The system should prove advantageous for Mueller matrix analysis of turbid samples (e.g., biological tissues) over large fields of view, in less than a second.

Orientational order of some liquid crystal/dye mixtures obtained from optical birefringence

ABSTRACTThis study presents optical birefringence measurements as a function of temperature for the liquid crystal/dye mixtures. The optical birefringence of the liquid crystals used in liquid crystal displays technology is related to the order parameter <P2>, which is crucial from the development point of view. The properties of the dyes (4-dimethylamino-4′-nitrostilbene and N,N′-bis(2,5-di-tert-buthylphenyl)-3,4,9,10-perylenedicarboximide) as a guest molecule are tested over the whole region of nematic phase occurrence by three different methods: measurement with use of the plano-convex lens, Berek's compensator and photoelastic modulator.

考虑静态双折射和圆二色性的弹光调制器偏振特性

考虑静态双折射和圆二色性的弹光调制器偏振特性

弹光和电光级联的组合相位调制型椭偏测量术

弹光和电光级联的组合相位调制型椭偏测量术

弹光调制和电光调制联合测剩余双折射

弹光调制和电光调制联合测剩余双折射

Influence of the ester chain length on the mesogenic behavior and optical anisotropy of 4-[[4-(butoxy)phenyl]diazenyl]phenyl alkanoates

In this manuscript, we report synthesis and physico-chemical characterization of 4-[[4-(butoxy)phenyl]diazenyl]phenyl alkanoates homologous series. For the first time, nineteen derivatives are described here. The enantiotropic nematic phase is typically observed among all members of this series. However, in the case of 4-[[4-(butoxy)phenyl]diazenyl]phenyl stearate, the nematic phase shows a monotropic character. In addition to liquid-crystalline polymorphism, a second crystalline form was observed in some homologs. Furthermore, using a photoelastic modulator, the optical anisotropy in the nematic phase was determined in the first nine compounds of this series. Temperature dependence of optical anisotropy at significantly lower values of reduced temperature is relatively weak. In contrast, optical anisotropy shows a strong temperature effect near isotropization. Moreover, the influence of the ester chain elongation on liquid crystalline and optical properties was established.

New antiferroelectric liquid crystal for use in LCD

In this work, the physical properties of newly synthesized liquid crystalline compound exhibiting two liquid crystalline phases (ferroelectric and antiferroelectric) were studied. Based on the results of differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing microscopy, and photoelastic modulator methods, the temperature dependences of spontaneous polarization, tilt angle, switching time, and birefringence in the ferroelectric, as well as antiferroelectric phases were determined. Furthermore, the influence of the external electric field on the liquid crystalline textures was studied and the phase sequences at heating and cooling were revealed. The temperature dependence of spontaneous polarization was analysed by means of Landau mean-field theory, and the critical parameter β obtained for ferroelectric liquid crystalline and isotropic liquid transition was 0.21 which is close to 0.25, the value characteristic for tri-critical point.

Light intensity stabilization based on the second harmonic of the photoelastic modulator detection in the atomic magnetometer.

The fluctuations of the probe light intensity seriously affect the performance of the sensitive atomic magnetometer. Here we propose a novel method for the intensity stabilization based on the second harmonic component of the photoelastic modulator (PEM) detection in the atomic magnetometer. The method not only could be used to eliminate the intensity fluctuations of the laser source, but also remove the fluctuations from the optical components caused by the environment. A relative fluctuation of the light intensity of 0.035% was achieved and the corresponding fluctuation of the output signal of the atomic magnetometer has decreased about two orders of magnitude from 4.06% to 0.041%. As the scheme proposed here only contains optical devices and does not require additional feedback controlled equipments, it is especially suitable for the integration of the atomic magnetometer.

Spectropolarimetric detection using photoelastic modulators and acousto-optic tunable filter.

This paper proposes a spectropolarimetric detection method based on three photoelastic modulators (3PEMs) and an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). Operating the 3PEMs at slightly resonant frequencies (ω1,ω2,ω3) generates a different frequency signal that modulates the polarized component of the incident light at a low-frequency (0, 2ω1-2ω3, ω2-ω3). The frequency of the low-frequency modulation component is two to three orders of magnitude lower than the resonant frequency of any of the 3PEMs so the general area array detector can realize the detection. I, Q, and U of the incident light's Stokes parameters can be obtained in only one detection by extracting the low-frequency component from the detector's signals, and then combining it with an AOTF to finally realize the spectropolarimetric imaging detection. The paper introduces the basic principle, preliminarily verifies feasibility through a corresponding numerical simulation and experiment, and makes an error analysis on the polarization detection results according to factors of difference frequency and phase delay amplitude. The theory has potential application value to spectropolarimetric technology.

Enantiomeric switching of chiral metamaterial for terahertz polarization modulation employing vertically deformable MEMS spirals.

Active modulation of the polarization states of terahertz light is indispensable for polarization-sensitive spectroscopy, having important applications such as non-contact Hall measurements, vibrational circular dichroism measurements and anisotropy imaging. In the terahertz region, the lack of a polarization modulator similar to a photoelastic modulator in the visible range hampers expansion of such spectroscopy. A terahertz chiral metamaterial has a huge optical activity unavailable in nature; nevertheless, its modulation is still challenging. Here we demonstrate a handedness-switchable chiral metamaterial for polarization modulation employing vertically deformable Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Vertical deformation of a planar spiral by a pneumatic force creates a three-dimensional spiral. Enantiomeric switching is realized by selecting the deformation direction, where the polarity of the optical activity is altered while maintaining the spectral shape. A polarization rotation as high as 28° is experimentally observed, thus providing a practical and compact polarization modulator for the terahertz range.

Polarization-modulation setup for ultrafast infrared anisotropy experiments to study liquid dynamics.

An infrared pump-probe setup using rapid polarization modulation has been developed to perform time-resolved vibrational anisotropy measurements. A photo-elastic modulator is used as a rapidly switchable half-wave plate, enabling the measurement of transient absorptions for parallel and perpendicular polarizations of the pump and probe pulses on a shot-to-shot basis. In this way, infrared intensity fluctuations are nearly completely canceled, significantly enhancing the accuracy of the transient-anisotropy measurement. The method is tested on the OD-stretch vibration of HDO in H2O, for which the signal-to-noise ratio is found to be 4 times better than with conventional methods.