Abstract
A general mathematical model based on Mueller-matrix calculation is presented to describe the optical behavior of a dual-crystal electro-optic modulator. The two crystals inside the modulator are oriented at +/- 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal, thereby cancelling natural birefringence and temperature-induced birefringence. We describe the behavior of the modulator as a function of the ellipticity of the crystals, the rotation angles of the crystals and the applied voltage. By fitting the measured data with a Mueller-matrix model that uses values for the ellipticity and orientation angles of the crystals, the simulated data and the experimental measurements could be matched. This Mueller-matrix includes physical properties of the thermally compensated electro optic modulator, and the matrix can be used in simulations where these device-specific properties are important, for instance in the modeling of a polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography system. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 24213-24224 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Optics Express |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 21 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Oct 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |