Polarimetry of three-dimensional optical fields

• US 7,310,144 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2006
• Issued: 12/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: University of Central Florida Research Foundation Inc. (State University System of Florida)
• Original Assignee: University of Central Florida Research Foundation Inc. (State University System of Florida)
• Inventors: Dogariu, Aristide, Ellis, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tu T
• Application Number:
  US11/417,800
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 356/364
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 4/00 Measuring polarisation of light

Abstract

The apparatus, system and method of the present invention provide a three-dimensional polarimeter probe having a coupler for coupling three components of an electromagnetic field that fluctuates in three-dimensions and an emitter for re-emitting a radiation corresponding to said three components. The radiation includes a polarized and an unpolarized component of said electromagnetic field and is used to determine the elements of a field-field correlation martix. In an embodiment, the system includes a detector located a distance from said probe for sensing said re-emitted radiation from said probe and a processor for determining a polarized and an unpolarized component of said electromagnetic field evaluating the polarized component to produce said polarimetry of said three-dimensional optical field.

Claims

1. A three-dimensional polarimeter probe comprising:

a coupler for coupling three components of an electromagnetic field that fluctuates in three-dimensions, the coupler comprising;

a first, second and third laser source for producing a first, second and third orthogonal laser beams, said first, second and third orthogonal laser beams overlapping to produce the field with adjustable properties; and

a controller for controlling a state of polarization of the first, second and third laser sources, wherein in the region of beam overlap the polarization of a three-dimensional field is adjustable and contains a polarized component; and

an emitter for re-emitting a radiation corresponding to said three components, wherein said radiation includes a polarized and an unpolarized component of said electromagnetic field to determine elements of a field-field correlation matrix.

2. A system for the polarimetry of a three-dimensional optical field comprising:

a probe for coupling a radiation of an electromagnetic field that fluctuates in three dimensions and re-emitting said radiation, said probe having adjustable field coupling properties;

a detector located a distance from said probe for sensing said re-emitted radiation from said probe; and

a processor for executing a set of instructions to produce a polarimetry of said three-dimensional optical field, said set of instructions comprising;

a first subset of instructions for determining a polarized and an unpolarized component of said electromagnetic field; and

a second subset of instructions for evaluating said polarized component to produce said polarimetry of said three-dimensional optical field.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said probe comprises:

three laser sources for producing three orthogonal laser beams, said three orthogonal laser beams overlapping to produce the field with adjustable properties; and

a controller for controlling a state of polarization of the three laser sources, wherein in the region of beam overlap the polarization of a three-dimensional field is adjustable and contains a polarized component.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a third subset of instructions analyzing said polarized component to determine a magnitude, a degree of polarization and a plane corresponding to said polarized component.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

a fourth set of instructions for isolating an ordered part of a random field using the magnitude, a degree of polarization and a plane corresponding to said polarized component.

6. A method for measuring polarization properties of a three-dimensional field comprising the steps of:

coupling a radiation of an electromagnetic field fluctuating in a three-dimensional field with a polarimetric sensor, the coupling including the steps of;

generating at least two orthogonal laser beams by at least two independent laser sources;

overlapping the at least two orthogonal laser beams to generate an adjustable three-dimensional field having a polarized component; and

using the adjustable three dimensional field by the polarimetric sensor to determine elements of a field-field correlation matrix;

re-emitting said radiation from said polarimetric sensor;

sensing said re-emitted radiation from said polarimetric sensor at a detector located a distance from said polarimetric sensor;

recording the re-emitted radiation;

evaluating said sensed radiation to determine a polarized and an unpolarized component of the three-dimensional field; and

analyzing said polarized component to determine a characteristic of said three-dimensional field and produce a polarimetry of the three-dimensional field.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

adjusting a polarization of the three-dimensional field by independently controlling the characteristic of the at least two laser beams; and

repeating the adjustment step plural times to obtain plural independent elements of a field-field correlation matrix of the three-dimensional field.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said analyzing step comprises the step of:

determining at least one of a magnitude and a state of polarization of said polarized component to identify said characteristic of said three-dimensional filed.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

isolating an ordered part of said electromagnetic field through direct measurement with the magnitude and state of polarization of said polarized component.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

integrating said polarimetric sensor to a predetermined shape for measuring the characteristic of the three-dimensional field.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

imaging objects imbedded in dense scattering media.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

retrieving a polarimetric of said electromagnetic field of an incoming beam without a priori knowledge of a direction of the beam.