Spectroscopic polarimetry with a channeled spectrum

Abstract

We describe a novel method for the spectroscopic measurement of the state of polarization (SOP) of light. A pair of thick birefringent retarders is incorporated into the spectroscopic polarimeter, so the generated channeled spectrum is composed of three quasi-cosinusoidal components carrying the information about the SOP of the light that is being measured. Fourier inversion of the channeled spectrum provides significant parameters for determination of the spectrally resolved Stokes parameters of light. No mechanically movable components for polarization control or active devices for polarization modulation are used, and all the Stokes parameters can be determined at once from only the single spectrum. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by the generation of elliptically polarized light whose SOP varies with wave number.