Experimental measurement of complex elements of correlation matrix of polarized light

Abstract

The two-point correlation matrix comprises of correlation among the same or different transverse polarization field components at a pair of points. Here, we present a method to determine argument (phase) of the elements of the two-point correlation matrix of the polarized light from the correlation of the Stokes fluctuations. We use only two Stokes parameters S0 and S1 and their two-point correlations to measure all four elements of the two-point correlation matrix. Application of this technique is demonstrated in phase imaging from spatially fluctuating vector random field and in characterization of the partially coherent vector beam. © COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.