Measurement of 2D birefringence distribution

A new measuring method of 2-D birefringence distribution has been developed. It has not been an easy job to get a birefringence distribution in an optical element with conventional ellipsometry because of its lack of scanning means. Finding an analogy between the rotating analyzer method in ellipsometry and the phase-shifting method in recently developed digital interferometry, we have applied the phase-shifting algorithm to ellipsometry, and have developed a new method that makes the measurement of 2-D birefringence distribution easy and possible. The system contains few moving parts, assuring reliability, and measures a large area of a sample at one time, making the measuring time very short.