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<p>In the process of developing a space-based imaging Stokes polarimeter for starlight polarization measurements, we established a procedure to characterize its two main optical components: the wave plate and the polarizer. We demonstrate that a simple optical bench setup combined with a custom calibration procedure can be used to measure the non-ideality parameters of both the polarizer and the wave plate. Using this approach, we characterized two high-quality components for the V-band. We set an upper limit for the cross-polarization of the polarizer, <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(C_B \le 1 \times 10^{-4}\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>, and a limit of <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\Delta \le 2 \times 10^{-4}\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> for the transmission imbalance of the half-wave plate. We show that with these components the setup yields reproducible measurements at the level of <InlineEquation ID="IEq3"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(0.001\%\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> for the polarization degree of a weakly polarized source, and <InlineEquation ID="IEq4"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(3'\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> for the position angle. We also investigate the performance of the components under tilted incidence, up to <InlineEquation ID="IEq5"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(6^o\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> off-axis, as required for a wide-field imaging version of a stellar polarimeter. We find that within this range, even without any off-axis bias correction, these components enable measurements of the polarization degree with an accuracy better than 0.005, and of the polarization angle with an accuracy better than <InlineEquation ID="IEq6"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(1^o\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>.</p>

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Characterization of a half wave plate and a polarizer for accurate starlight polarimetry

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月28日

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  • Paolo de Bernardis,
  • Silvia Masi,
  • Giulia Barbieri Ripamonti,
  • Fabio Columbro

摘要

In the process of developing a space-based imaging Stokes polarimeter for starlight polarization measurements, we established a procedure to characterize its two main optical components: the wave plate and the polarizer. We demonstrate that a simple optical bench setup combined with a custom calibration procedure can be used to measure the non-ideality parameters of both the polarizer and the wave plate. Using this approach, we characterized two high-quality components for the V-band. We set an upper limit for the cross-polarization of the polarizer, \(C_B \le 1 \times 10^{-4}\) , and a limit of \(\Delta \le 2 \times 10^{-4}\) for the transmission imbalance of the half-wave plate. We show that with these components the setup yields reproducible measurements at the level of \(0.001\%\) for the polarization degree of a weakly polarized source, and \(3'\) for the position angle. We also investigate the performance of the components under tilted incidence, up to \(6^o\) off-axis, as required for a wide-field imaging version of a stellar polarimeter. We find that within this range, even without any off-axis bias correction, these components enable measurements of the polarization degree with an accuracy better than 0.005, and of the polarization angle with an accuracy better than \(1^o\) .