Related papers: Refractometry of birefringent materials at Brewste…
We demonstrate that anisotropy of Fresnel diffraction in a birefringent medium can be quantitatively characterized by a planar tensor. Eigenvectors of the tensor correspond to directions of minimum and maximum beam divergence. Zero…
We have demonstrated several inexpensive methods which can be used to measure the deflection angles of prisms with microradian precision. The methods are self-referenced, using various reversals to achieve absolute measurements without the…
In undergraduate optics courses, diffraction gratings are studied extensively, generally within the scalar approximation. When the vector nature of light is taken into account, so-called polarization diffraction gratings have been proposed,…
Polarized X-rays allow for imaging birefringent or dichroic properties of materials with nanometric resolution. To disentangle these properties from the electronic density, either a polarization analyzer or several measurements with…
Polarization is well known for its ability to decompose diffuse and specular reflections. However, the existing decomposition methods only focus on direct reflection and overlook multiple reflections, especially specular inter-reflection.…
We develop a new approach to build a material with negative refraction index. In contrast to conventional designs which make use of a resonant behavior to achieve a non-zero magnetic response, our material is intrinsically non-magnetic and…
The refractive index of single microparticles is derived from precise measurement and rigorous modeling of the stiffness of a laser trap. We demonstrate the method for particles of four different materials with diameters from 1.6 to 5.2…
In usual measurement with the Senarmont method using a conventional polarization microscope, the azimuth angle of the analyzer at extinction of the emerging light is detected by naked eyes. If the intensity of light is measured as a…
Backscatter limits many interferometric measurements, including gravitational wave detectors, by creating spurious interference. We describe an experimental method to directly and quantitatively measure the backscatter interference. We…
We demonstrate experimentally the fine lateral circular birefringence of a tunable birefringent polymer, the first example of the spin Hall effect of light in a polymeric material. We report experimental observations of this effect using…
Near-zero-refractive index materials display unique optical properties such as perfect transmission through distorted waveguides, cloaking, and inhibited diffraction. Compared to conventional media, they can fundamentally behave differently…
In this article, it has been theoretically shown that broad angle negative refraction is possible with asymmetric anisotropic metamaterials constructed by only dielectrics or loss less semiconductors at the telecommunication and relative…
We present two backscattering polarimetric scanning setups based on point-illumination schemes, that are designed to probe the optical properties of subsurface media. We describe their advantages and limitations, characterize their…
We report the observation of the magnetic field induced circular differential deflection of light at the interface of a Faraday medium. The difference in the angles of refraction or reflection between the two circular polarization…
The optical Yoneda and Brewster scattering phenomena are studied theoretically based on pertubative solutions of the reduced Rayleigh equations. The Yoneda phenomenon is characterized as an enhancement of the intensity of the diffuse light…
An azimuthally electric-polarized vector beam (APB), with a polarization vortex, has a salient feature that it contains a magnetic-dominant region within which electric field ideally has a null while longitudinal magnetic field is maximum.…
A polarised light imaging microscopy with an addition of liquid crystal (LC) phase retarder was implemented to determine the birefringence of silk fibers with the high 2 micrometers spatial resolution. The measurement was carried out with…
A method is proposed which allows a complete determination of the complex reflection coefficient for any free unknown real potential (i.e., in the case where there is no effective absorption). In this method the unknown layer mounted on top…
The polarization direction of an electromagnetic field changes and eventually reaches a steady state when propagating through a birefringent material with off axis absorption or gain. The steady state orientation direction depends on the…
Here I present an overview of recent studies of the phenomenon of negative refraction and left-handed materials. I will discuss some basic questions pertinent to the problem. It is pointed out that the current claims of negative refraction…