EFFECT OF SOURCE 1/F-NOISE ON OPTICAL POLARIMETER PERFORMANCE

A high-quality optical polarimeter has been modeled using optical calculus computer simulations which accurately account for the S/N effects of polarizer extinction ratio, polarization modulation frequency, analyte concentration, and preamplifier noise. It is shown that 1/f noise may be modeled, via a fast digital recursive filter method, and that 1/f noise may be impressed on the optical calculus vectors used in the polarimeter models. Using such models and a frequency domain analysis of the output of the polarimeter, it is readily seen that conventional semiquantitative analyses of polarimeter operation have been quite accurate.