| 摘要 |
This invention provides an optical and computation system that does not utilize moving parts, which enables the angular orientation of the optical axes on t he surface of a birefringent material to be determined and comparably, the orientation of th e optical axes within light emerging from that surface. Further, since this invention considers the relative orientations of the preferred axis or axes of polarization within light, thi s method is also applicable for determining the angular orientation of the preferred axis of polarization of elliptically or linearly polarized light or the orientation of the polarizin g axis of the material causing the preferred direction of polarization. For birefringent generated axes, this invention allows for the principal axis to be identified distinctly from the quadrature axis and without ambiguity. This is achieved by consideration of the relative intensities of the light emerging from the birefringent or polarizing material when observed through a plurality of linear or elliptical polarizers whose axes are set at known and distinct orientations to the reference direction of the measurement system, and with the ambiguities in the determination of the principal axis in the birefringent system removed by use of the phase of the interference patterns resultingwhen the light passin g along the principal and quadrature axes within the birefringent material is combined b y the linear or elliptical polarizers.
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