Monochromatic Depolarizer Based on Liquid Crystal

Abstract

Polarization is a very useful parameter of a light beam in many optical measurements. Improvement of holographic systems requires optical elements which need a diffused and depolarized light beam. This paper describes a simple monochromatic depolarizer based on a pure vertically aligned liquid crystal without pretilt. In this work we present an extended description of depolarizer by analyzing its electro-optic properties measured in spatial and time domains with the use of crossed polarizers and polarimetric configurations. Crossed polarizers set-up provides information on spatial and temporal changes of microscopic textures while polarimetric measurement allows to measure voltage and time dependence of degree of polarization. Three different thicknesses, i.e., 5 μm, 10 μm and 15 μm have been manufactured in order to analyze another degree of freedom for this type of depolarizer device based on a liquid crystals’ material. Consideration of the light scattering capability of the cell is reported.