Evaluation and characterization of imaging polarimetry through metasurface polarization gratings

Abstract

Metasurfaces are a new class of diffractive optical elements with subwavelength elements whose behavior can be lithographically tailored. By leveraging form birefringence, metasurfaces can serve as multifunctional freespace polarization optics. Metasurface gratings are novel, to the best of our knowledge, polarimetric components that integrate multiple polarization analyzers into a single optical element enabling the realization of compact imaging polarimeters. The promise of metasurfaces as a new polarization building block is contingent on the calibration of metagrating-based optical systems. A prototype metasurface full Stokes imaging polarimeter is compared to a benchtop reference instrument using an established linear Stokes test for 670, 532, and 460 nm gratings. We propose a complementary full Stokes accuracy test and demonstrate it using the 532 nm grating. This work presents methods and practical considerations involved in producing accurate polarization data from a metasurface-based Stokes imaging polarimeter and informs their use in polarimetric systems more generally.