Kanitha Katanyukunanon. A study of optical transmissivity and optical phase retardation measurement by using a fiber loop mirror architecture . Master's Degree(Physics). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2007.
A study of optical transmissivity and optical phase retardation measurement by using a fiber loop mirror architecture
Abstract:
This thesis proposes and experimentally demonstrates a fiber-connectorized optical
system that can be used to study both the optical transmissivity and optical phase retardation
of the material. The key idea comes from the inherent advantages of the fiber loop mirror
(FLM) which simply consists of a 2× 2 fiber-optic coupler and a polarization controller. The
FLM has been found to be a more appropriate choice once its two output ports are analyzed
simultaneously for the implementation of an optical sensing system that can examine at least
two interest parameters and requires less precise free-space optical alignment. In this thesis,
the FLM operation which is based on the interference of the two counter-propagating optical
beams as well as the optical phase retardation induced inside the FLM was studied. In this
experiment, it was decided to vary the FLM transmissivity and reflectivity by simply
adjusting the polarization controller in the loop. As a result, it could be optimized the
maximum transmission of the FLM for analyzing the optical transmissivity of the desired test
sample. In addition, using the same setup it was proposed to eliminate the effect of optical
losses from the test sample and the FLM itself in measuring the optical phase retardation of
the test sample via analyzing the ratio of the optical powers from both transmission and
reflection ports of the FLM. The experimental proof of this concept using three known zeroorder
waveplates as test samples shows promising results which agree very well with the
theoretical analysis proposed in this thesis.