Singularities of interference of three waves with different polarization states.

We presented the interference setup which can produce interesting two-dimensional patterns in polarization state of the resulting light wave emerging from the setup. The main element of our setup is the Wollaston prism which gives two plane, linearly polarized waves (eigenwaves of both Wollaston's wedges) with linearly changed phase difference between them (along the x-axis). The third wave coming from the second arm of proposed polarization interferometer is linearly or circularly polarized with linearly changed phase difference along the y-axis. The interference of three plane waves with different polarization states (LLL - linear-linear-linear or LLC - linear-linear-circular) and variable change difference produce two-dimensional light polarization and phase distributions with some characteristic points and lines which can be claimed to constitute singularities of different types. The aim of this article is to find all kind of these phase and polarization singularities as well as their classification. We postulated in our theoretical simulations and verified in our experiments different kinds of polarization singularities, depending on which polarization parameter was considered (the azimuth and ellipticity angles or the diagonal and phase angles). We also observed the phase singularities as well as the isolated zero intensity points which resulted from the polarization singularities when the proper analyzer was used at the end of the setup. The classification of all these singularities as well as their relationships were analyzed and described.

Measurements of the small wave tilt using the optical vortex interferometer with the Wollaston compensator.

A classical Mach-Zehnder two-beam interferometer was modernized using the Wollaston compensator, which allowed obtaining a stable set of specific optical markers--optical vortices. This new interferometer setup that generated optical vortices was used to measure small angle tilt. The theoretical basis of setups behavior has been described. The value of the described setup was confirmed by practical experiments.

Measurements of birefringent media properties using optical vortex birefringence compensator.

We present some applications of the optical vortex birefringence compensator, based on the C polarization type singularities generated using two Wollaston compensators. The theory and experimental results of birefringent media properties measurements are presented. The possibility of the simultaneous measurement of both the azimuth angle and the phase retardance has been analyzed and experimentally verified.

Generation of vortex-type markers in a one-wave setup.

What we believe to be a new arrangement of an optical vortex interferometer (OVI) is presented. In the proposed configuration the optical vortex lattice is generated in a one-wave setup by use of birefringent elements--Wollaston compensators. The obtained vortex lattice is regular and stable, which is necessary for predicted applications. The new OVI configuration allows the measurement of waves and optical media properties.