Optical component for polarization modulation, a mueller polarimeter and ellipsometer containing such an optical component, a process for the calibration of this ellipsometer, and an ellipsometric measurement process
US6175412A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 6, 1998 |
| Grant date | Jan 16, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 6, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02F1/0327
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical component for modulation of polarization, a Mueller polarimeter and ellipsometer containing such an optical component. The optical component modulates a linearly polarized incident beam and returns a modulated beam. It includes a coupled phase modulator which modulates the incident beam twice in succession, the two modulations having the same frequency of .omega./2.pi., and a coupling system modifying the polarization state of the light between the two modulations. The ellipsometer includes the means for detection of a measurement beam returned by a sample, which receives the modulated beam, in addition to a processing unit. The means of detection include a polarimeter producing n measured quantities representing the polarization states of the beam, and the processing unit produces m values for each of these quantities by Fourier transform, with n.times.m.gtoreq.16 and m.gtoreq.4, providing simultaneous access to the sixteen components of the Mueller matrix of the sample.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.