Determination of optical parameters of a twisted-nematic liquid crystal by phase-sensitive optical heterodyne interferometric ellipsometry

What is believed to be a novel phase-sensitive optical heterodyne interferometric ellipsometer is set up to characterize a twisted-nematic liquid crystal (TN-LC) by the elliptical parameters of the output polarization state. This ellipsometer presents the advantages of both polarized optical heterodyne interferometry and optical photometry, which introduce a polarization modulation that is capable of performing with high-sensitivity on phase detection in real time. The twist angle [phi] and the untwisted phase retardation [GAMMA] of TN-LC are measured precisely. The experimental results verify that a TN-LC can be treated as identical to an elliptical retarder. OCIS codes: 120.2130, 120.3180, 120.5240, 120.5410, 160.3710.