Compain E, Poirier S, Drevillon B
Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces, Unite Mixte de Recherche du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
Appl Opt. 1999 Jun 1;38(16):3490-502. doi: 10.1364/ao.38.003490.
Calibration of polarization-state generators (PSG's), polarimeters, and Mueller-matrix ellipsometers (MME's) is an important factor in the practical use of these instruments. A new general procedure, the eigenvalue calibration method (ECM), is presented. It can calibrate any complete MME consisting of a PSG and a polarimeter that generate and measure, respectively, all the states of polarization of light. In the ECM, the PSG and the polarimeter are described by two 4 x 4 matrices W and A, and their 32 coefficients are determined from three or four measurements performed on reference samples. Those references are smooth isotropic samples and perfect linear polarizers. Their optical characteristics are unambiguously determined during the calibration from the eigenvalues of the measured matrices. The ECM does not require accurate alignment of the various optical elements and does not involve any first-order approximation. The ECM also displays an efficient error control capability that can be used to improve the MME behavior. The ECM is illustrated by an experimental calibration, at two wavelengths (458 and 633 nm), of a MME consisting of a coupled phase modulator associated with a prism division-of-amplitude polarimeter.
偏振态发生器（PSG）、偏振计和穆勒矩阵椭偏仪（MME）的校准是这些仪器实际应用中的一个重要因素。本文提出了一种新的通用方法——特征值校准法（ECM）。它可以校准任何由PSG和偏振计组成的完整MME，PSG和偏振计分别用于产生和测量光的所有偏振态。在ECM中，PSG和偏振计由两个4×4矩阵W和A描述，其32个系数通过对参考样品进行的三次或四次测量来确定。这些参考样品是光滑各向同性样品和理想线性偏振器。在校准过程中，根据测量矩阵的特征值明确确定它们的光学特性。ECM不需要精确对准各种光学元件，也不涉及任何一阶近似。ECM还具有有效的误差控制能力，可用于改善MME的性能。通过在两个波长（458和633nm）下对由与棱镜分振幅偏振计相关联的耦合相位调制器组成的MME进行实验校准，对ECM进行了说明。
