Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators

Liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) will be used for the first time in a space instrument, the Solar Orbiter mission of the European Space Agency, as polarization states analyzers (PSAs). These devices will determine the Stokes parameters of the light coming from the Sun by temporal polarizati...

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Autores: Garcia Parejo, Pilar, Campos Jara, Antonio, García Caurel, Enric, Arteaga Barriel, Oriol, Álvarez Herrero, Alberto
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/177604
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/177604
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Moduladors (Electrònica)
Polarització (Física nuclear)
Modulators (Electronics)
Polarization (Nuclear physics)
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spelling Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulatorsGarcia Parejo, PilarCampos Jara, AntonioGarcía Caurel, EnricArteaga Barriel, OriolÁlvarez Herrero, AlbertoModuladors (Electrònica)Polarització (Física nuclear)Modulators (Electronics)Polarization (Nuclear physics)Liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) will be used for the first time in a space instrument, the Solar Orbiter mission of the European Space Agency, as polarization states analyzers (PSAs). These devices will determine the Stokes parameters of the light coming from the Sun by temporal polarization modulation, using the so-called modulation matrix O. This is a matrix constituted by the first rows of properly selected PSA Mueller matrices. Calibrating a space instrument, in particular, finding O, is a critical point because in a spacecraft there is no possibility of physical access. Due to the huge difficulty in calibrating the complete instruments in all possible scenarios, a more complete calibration of the individual components has been done in ground in order to make extrapolations to obtain O in-flight. Nevertheless, apart from the individual calibrations, the experimental errors and nonideal effects that inhibit the system to reach the designed and theoretical values must be known. In this work, description and study of these effects have been done, focusing on the nonideal effects of the LCVRs and the azimuthal misalignments between the optical components of the PSA during the mechanical assembly. The Mueller matrix of a representative LCVR has been measured and mathematically decomposed by logarithm decomposition, looking for values of circular birefringence and fast axis angle variations as a function of voltage. These effects, in the absence of other nonidealities, affect the polarimetric performance, reducing the polarimetric efficiencies in some cases until 11%. Nevertheless, in this case, they are negligible if compared to the other nonideality studied, which are the azimuthal misalignments between the PSA optical components. The study presented in this work is key to extrapolate the PSA O matrix if the expected instrumental set-point temperatures are not reached in flight and can be used for the design and implementation of other polarimetric instruments.American Vacuum Society2020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/177604Articles publicats en revistes (Física Aplicada)reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaInglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5122749Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, 2020, vol. 38, num. 1https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5122749(c) American Vacuum Society, 2020info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/1776042026-05-27T06:46:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
title Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
spellingShingle Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
Garcia Parejo, Pilar
Moduladors (Electrònica)
Polarització (Física nuclear)
Modulators (Electronics)
Polarization (Nuclear physics)
title_short Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
title_full Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
title_fullStr Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
title_full_unstemmed Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
title_sort Nonideal optical response of liquid crystal variable retarders and its impact on their performance as polarization modulators
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Garcia Parejo, Pilar
Campos Jara, Antonio
García Caurel, Enric
Arteaga Barriel, Oriol
Álvarez Herrero, Alberto
author Garcia Parejo, Pilar
author_facet Garcia Parejo, Pilar
Campos Jara, Antonio
García Caurel, Enric
Arteaga Barriel, Oriol
Álvarez Herrero, Alberto
author_role author
author2 Campos Jara, Antonio
García Caurel, Enric
Arteaga Barriel, Oriol
Álvarez Herrero, Alberto
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Moduladors (Electrònica)
Polarització (Física nuclear)
Modulators (Electronics)
Polarization (Nuclear physics)
topic Moduladors (Electrònica)
Polarització (Física nuclear)
Modulators (Electronics)
Polarization (Nuclear physics)
description Liquid crystal variable retarders (LCVRs) will be used for the first time in a space instrument, the Solar Orbiter mission of the European Space Agency, as polarization states analyzers (PSAs). These devices will determine the Stokes parameters of the light coming from the Sun by temporal polarization modulation, using the so-called modulation matrix O. This is a matrix constituted by the first rows of properly selected PSA Mueller matrices. Calibrating a space instrument, in particular, finding O, is a critical point because in a spacecraft there is no possibility of physical access. Due to the huge difficulty in calibrating the complete instruments in all possible scenarios, a more complete calibration of the individual components has been done in ground in order to make extrapolations to obtain O in-flight. Nevertheless, apart from the individual calibrations, the experimental errors and nonideal effects that inhibit the system to reach the designed and theoretical values must be known. In this work, description and study of these effects have been done, focusing on the nonideal effects of the LCVRs and the azimuthal misalignments between the optical components of the PSA during the mechanical assembly. The Mueller matrix of a representative LCVR has been measured and mathematically decomposed by logarithm decomposition, looking for values of circular birefringence and fast axis angle variations as a function of voltage. These effects, in the absence of other nonidealities, affect the polarimetric performance, reducing the polarimetric efficiencies in some cases until 11%. Nevertheless, in this case, they are negligible if compared to the other nonideality studied, which are the azimuthal misalignments between the PSA optical components. The study presented in this work is key to extrapolate the PSA O matrix if the expected instrumental set-point temperatures are not reached in flight and can be used for the design and implementation of other polarimetric instruments.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/177604
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/177604
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5122749
Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, 2020, vol. 38, num. 1
https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5122749
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv (c) American Vacuum Society, 2020
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv (c) American Vacuum Society, 2020
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv American Vacuum Society
publisher.none.fl_str_mv American Vacuum Society
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Física Aplicada)
reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
instname:Universidad de Barcelona
instname_str Universidad de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de la UB
collection Dipòsit Digital de la UB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,301629

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