LONGITUDINAL POLARIZATION-DEPENDENT COUPLING OF LIGHT FROM AN OPTICAL FIBER TO A SIDE-BONDED PLANAR PROXIMITY DETECTOR - APPLICATION TO INTEGRATED AZIMUTHALLY DISTRIBUTED MULTIDETECTOR PHOTOPOLARIMETERS

An in-line integrated fiber-optic photopolarimeter (IFOP) is described for the complete measurement of the state of polarization (SOP) of light. The IFOP consists of four azimuthally distributed side-bonded planar proximity detectors (SBPPD's), each of which develops an electrical signal proportional to the polarization-dependent fraction of light that it absorbs from the fiber guide. The four outputs thus developed determine the four Stokes parameters of light in the fiber via an instrument matrix which is fixed by calibration, in much the same way as has been established for the four-detector polarimeter of unguided beams. Simpler IFOP's using only two detectors, of which at least one is a SBPPD, are also proposed for partial or complete measurement of the SOP.