Abstract
The waveplate made of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) plastic film has several advantages compared with that of birefringent crystal in visible region, such as its lower cost and insensitivity to temperature and incidence angle. What are the performances when they are used in the near infrared spectral region? In this paper, we provide some experimental results of infrared PVA waveplates. To do this, we make some samples and measure their polarization characteristics at several aspects. Firstly, we measure the performance of these PVA waveplates by precise instruments in laboratory. Secondly, we put the waveplates into a Stokes polarimeter to observe the solar magnetic field at near infrared line FeI1.56μm. By use of this polarimeter mounted on the vertical spectrograph of 2m McMath telescope at Kitt Peak, the two-dimensional Stokes parameters, I, Q, U, and V, of a sunspot were observed. From the results of laboratory and observation, we get the conclusion that PVA waveplate has the fair polarization performance to be used to observe the solar magnetic fields in the near infrared spectral region. By these experiments, we provide a design of an achromatic waveplate in infrared region, which consists of five-element, to illustrate the PVA waveplate is the best choice to it.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1786-1795 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 5492 |
| Issue number | PART 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2004 |
| Event | Ground-based Instrumentation for Astronomy - Glasgow, United Kingdom Duration: Jun 21 2004 → Jun 25 2004 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Keywords
- Near infrared
- PVA waveplate
- Retardation
- Stokes polarimeter