Method and system for determining the degree of polarization of light

A system for determining the degree of polarization (DOP) of source light comprising:

• an input light-wave power meter for measuring input light intensity of said source light and for accounting for fluctuations in the source light intensity;
• a polarization controller adapted to transform a polarization state of the source light to a plurality of states of polarization;
• a fixed polarizer adapted to discriminate the transformed source light;
• a light-wave power meter adapted to measure a transmitted intensity of the discriminated transformed source light;
• and
• means for determining the DOP based on at least two of a plurality of measured transmitted intensities of the discriminated transformed source light.

A method of determining the degree of polarization (DOP) of source light comprising:

• measuring for intensity fluctuations in said source light;
• transforming the source light to a state of polarization;
• discriminating the transformed source light;
• measuring a transmitted intensity of the discriminated transformed source light,
• repeating the steps of transforming, discriminating, and measuring at least three times, thereby yielding at least four measured transmitted intensities;
• and
• determining the DOP based on the at least four measured transmitted intensities using Mueller calculus and said measured intensity fluctuations.

A system for determining the degree of polarization (DOP) of source light comprising:

• an input source light-wave power meter adapted to measure input source light Intensity fluctuations;
• a polarization controller adapted to transform a polarization state of the source light to at least four states of polarization;
• a fixed polarizer adapted to discriminate the transformed source light;
• a light-wave power meter adapted to measure a transmitted intensity of the discriminated transformed source light;
• and
• means for determining the DOP using Mueller calculus based on the at least four measured transmitted intensities of the discriminated transformed source light and said measured input source light intensity fluctuations.

A method of determining the degree of polarization (DOP) of input source light, said method comprising:

• measuring input source light intensity fluctuations,
• selecting a plurality of selectable polarization states;
• for each selectable polarization state, transforming said source light to light of said selectable polarization state, filtering said light of said selectable polarization state to yield light of a fixed polarization state, and measuring the intensity of said light of said fixed polarization state to obtain an intensity measurement;
• and
• determining said DOP as a function of the intensity measurements obtained for said plurality of selectable polarization states and said measured input source light intensity fluctuations.

A system for determining the degree of polarization (DOP) of source light comprising:

• a polarization controller adapted to transform a polarization state of the source light to a plurality of states of polarization;
• a fixed polarizer adapted to discriminate the transformed source light;
• a light-wave power meter adapted to measure a transmitted intensity of the discriminated transformed source light;
• means for determining the DOP based on at least two of a plurality of measured transmitted intensities of the discriminated transformed source light;
• a second light-wave power meter adapted to measure a transmited intensity of the source light;
• and
• a fiber coupler adapted to receive the source light and input the source light to the second light-wave power meter.

A system for determining the degree of polarization (DOP) of source light comprising:

• a polarization controller adapted to transform a polarization state of the source light to at least four states of polarization;
• a fixed polarizer adapted to discriminate the transformed source light;
• a light-wave power meter adapted to measure a transmitted intensity of the discriminated transformed source light;
• means for determining the DOP using Mueller calculus based on the at least four measured transmitted intensities of the discriminated transformed source light;
• a second light-wave power meter adapted to measure a transmitted intensity of the source light, and
• a fiber coupler adapted to receive the source light and input the source light to the second light-wave power meter.