The rotating linearly polarized light from a polarizing Mach–Zehnder interferometer: Production and applications

The production and control of a required polarization state are very important in optical measurements such as thin film surface characterization, ensuring continuity of data measurement and speedy acquisition. In this paper, a polarizing Mach–Zehnder interferometer is used to generate rotating linearly polarized light. Theoretical analysis and experimentation on the proposed configuration show good agreement. Applications of the rotating linearly polarized light generated from the proposed polarizing interferometer are demonstrated. The applications include measurements of the phase retardation of several wave retarders. The results from the preliminary investigation show a promising performance of the proposed setup.