CALIBRATION, PROPERTIES, AND APPLICATIONS OF THE DIVISION-OF-AMPLITUDE PHOTOPOLARIMETER AT 632.8 AND 1523-NM

The design, the construction, and the testing of a division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter (DOAP) introduced by Azzam [Opt. Acta 29, 685 (1982); 32, 767 (1985)] are described. The DOAP can perform time-resolved measurements of all four Stokes parameters of arbitrarily polarized light. The instrument was calibrated and tested at 632.8- and 1523-nm laser wavelengths. The mean deviations of the measured Stokes vectors from ideal polarization-state generator curves were less than 1% at 632.8 nm and less than 4% at 1523 nm. The larger deviations at 1523 nm resulted from larger imperfections in the quarter-wave plate used in the polarization-state generator. The results of instrument calibration methods introduced by Azzam et al. [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 59, 84 (1988); J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 6, 1513 (1989)] are presented and discussed. The DOAP has been used to study light scattering by rough surfaces and to carry out conventional, generalized, and Mueller matrix ellipsometry.