Polarimeter for measuring the properties of birefringent media in reflective mode

This work presents a description of a polarimetric system for measuring the properties of birefringent media. In our reflection system the applied Stokes polarimeter acts both as a generator of the light's selected polarization states as well as a light analyzer leaving the examined medium. The method is based on six intensity distribution measurements realized in six different configurations of polarizers/analyzers: four linear and two circular ones. Thus, we have achieved parallel polariscope for linear polarizers and the crossed polariscope for circular polarizers. Such a setup can be easily applied for linearly birefringent media properties measurements including dichroic ones. This measurement setup and the measurement method were successfully tested in a homogeneous medium and a medium with variable phase difference.