Patent · US Expired

Birefringence distribution measuring method

US5587793A · kind A · utility

6Cited by
1References
3Claims
0Family size

Assignees

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 6, 1995
Grant dateDec 24, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 6, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S3/08072
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A sample is placed between a circular polarizer and an analyzer in an optical path between a monochromatic light source and a two-dimensional optical receiver. Parallel beams emitted from the monochromatic light source are converted into circularly polarized light by the circular polarizer. After transmitting the sample, the light is guided to the analyzer. While rotating the analyzer about the axis of the beams, image data are detected by optical receiver at a step of a regular rotation angle, and the detected image data are sampled to be sent to an image processing device in the next stage. On the basis of the image data, an operation is conducted on each pixel to obtain a relative phase difference due to birefringence of the sample, the two-dimensional birefringence distribution including the sign of the relative phase difference, and also the principal axis direction.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.