Liquid-crystal modulators in optical phase-shifting interferometry and polarimetric imaging
Esther Nabadda, María del Mar Sánchez-López, Ignacio Moreno
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Base Information
Volume
V59 - N3 / 2026 Ordinario
Reference
52008
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.7149/OPA.59.3.52008
Language
English
Keywords
liquid-crystal modulators; Mueller matrix polarimetry; phase-shifting interferometry; spatial light modulators; structured light; polarization imaging.
Abstract
This article summarizes the main scientific contributions of the doctoral thesis Liquid-crystal modulators in optical phase-shifting interferometry and polarimetric imaging. The thesis investigated liquid-crystal (LC) optical modulators as programmable devices for phase and polarization control in quantitative optical imaging. At the device level, two LC configurations were studied. First, a Mueller- matrix polarimetric framework was developed for twisted-nematic LC modulators, extending conventional Jones-matrix descriptions and enabling the determination of physical parameters from polarimetric measurements. Second, a special custom ferroelectric LC cell with a large in-plane switching angle was designed and experimentally validated for binary π-phase modulation ideally independent of the incident polarization state. At the system level, LC modulators were integrated into two quantitative imaging architectures. A pixelated parallel-aligned LC spatial light modulator was used for hologram generation and phase-shifting common-path interferometry, enabling phase retrieval of structured optical fields and tailored diffraction orders. In addition, single-pixel LC retarders were combined with a polarization camera to implement a programmable Mueller matrix imaging polarimeter with self-calibration capability and no moving polarization elements. Overall, the thesis demonstrates the use of LC modulators as compact, programmable, and metrological elements for phase-sensitive and polarization-sensitive optical imaging.
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