Application of two-dimensional intensity maps in high-accuracy polarimetry.

We propose the analysis of 2D intensity contour maps which is based on the optical transmission function for the polarizer-specimen-analyzer system. A small modification of the high-accuracy universal polarimeter (HAUP) technique was used to measure the intensity maps (HAUP maps) and determine the phase retardation, linear dichroism (LD) parameters, and multiple light reflection contribution in uniaxial crystals. We have performed measurements in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis on pure birefringent LiNbO, birefringent optically active SiO, and two birefringent optically active dichroic galogermanate crystals doped with Mn and Cr ions.

Dual-wavelength polarimeter application in investigations of the optical activity of a langasite crystal.

A method of high-accuracy polarimetry, which includes optical activity measurements' systematic errors, was realized with a dual-wavelength polarimeter for the two wavelengths of 635 and 650 nm. Simultaneous measurements with neighboring wavelengths significantly improved the data processing by increasing the amount of obtained data to eliminate the systematic errors. For a langasite crystal, LaGaSiO, we measured the temperature dependence of the gyration tensor component g.