Polarization constraints in reciprocal unitary backscattering
Optics
2019-03-05 v1
Abstract
We observed that the polarization state of light after round-trip propagation through a birefringent medium frequently aligns with the employed input polarization state "mirrored" by the horizontal plane of the Poincare sphere. In this letter we explore the predisposition for this mirror state and demonstrate how it constrains the evolution of polarization states as a function of the round-trip depth into weakly scattering birefringent samples, as measured with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). The constraint enables measurements of depth-resolved sample birefringence with PS-OCT using only a single input polarization state, which offers a critical simplification compared to the use of multiple input states.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.01142,
title = {Polarization constraints in reciprocal unitary backscattering},
author = {Qiaozhou Xiong and Nanshuo Wang and Xinyu Liu and Si Chen and Cilwyn S. Braganza and Brett E. Bouma and Linbo Liu and Martin Villiger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.01142},
year = {2019}
}