Polarization measurement and self-calibration based on multiple tunable optical polarization rotators

1. A method, comprising:

using a plurality of adjustable polarization rotators and a waveplate in an optical path to receive an input beam in an input polarization state and transmit the received input beam as a transmitted beam, wherein the adjustable polarization rotators are divided into a first group having at least one adjustable polarization rotator to be on one side of the waveplate in the optical path and a second group having at least one adjustable polarization rotator to be on the other side of the waveplate in the optical path;

using an output optical polarizer in the optical path to receive and filter the transmitted beam as an output beam polarized in a direction along a polarization direction of the output optical polarizer to a photodetector which measures a power level of the output beam;

controlling the polarization rotators to be at different collections of rotator settings to generate different states of polarization in the transmitted beam to measure different power levels of the output beam at the photodetector, respectively;

for each collection of rotator settings for the adjustable polarization rotators corresponding to a generated state of polarization in the transmitted beam, applying presumed values for Stokes parameters of the input polarization state of the input beam and component parameters for the adjustable polarization rotators, the waveplate and the output optical polarizer in a Mueller matrix formulation for an optical system formed of the adjustable polarization rotators, the waveplate and the output optical polarizer in the optical path to compute a power level of the output beam at the photodetector;

obtaining a sum of squared values of differences between computed power levels of the output beam and respective measured power levels of the output beam for the different states of polarization generated via controlling the polarization rotators to be at the different collections of rotator settings, respectively;

adjusting at least one of the presumed values for Stokes parameters of the input polarization state of the input beam and the component parameters to search for a selected set of values for the Stokes parameters of the input polarization state of the input beam and the component parameters that minimize the sum; and

using values for Stokes parameters in the selected set of values to represent a measured input polarization state of the input beam.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the component parameters comprise rotator settings of the adjustable polarization rotators.

3. The method as in claim 2 , wherein the rotator settings comprise at least two different predetermined polarization rotation angles of each adjustable polarization rotator.

4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the component parameters comprise a waveplate phase retardation value of the waveplate.

5. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the component parameters comprise a relative angle between an optic axis of the waveplate and the polarization direction of the output optical polarizer.

6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the component parameters changes with at least one of (1) a temperature of a corresponding component and (2) a wavelength of the input beam that passes through the corresponding component.

7. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising using at least two adjustable polarization rotators in each of the first and the second groups.

8. The method as in claim 1 , wherein each adjustable polarization rotator has two different polarization rotation angles and operates as a binary device to rotate polarization of light at either of the two different polarization rotation angles.

9. The method as in claim 8 , wherein the two different polarization rotation angles are positive and negative polarization rotation angles of the same rotation.

10. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:

using values for the component parameters in the selected set of values for the Stokes parameters of the input polarization state of the input beam and the component parameters to obtain values for Muller matrix elements; and

using the obtained Muller matrix elements to directly compute Stokes parameters of another input beam with an unknown input polarization state by measuring power levels at the photodetector obtained through controlling the adjustable polarization rotators to generate four different polarization states in the transmitted beam.

11. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising using a quarter wave plate as the waveplate.

12. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the waveplate has a phase retardation different from 90 degrees or π/2.

13. A device, comprising:

a plurality of adjustable polarization rotators along an optical path;

a waveplate in the optical path to receive an input beam in an input polarization state and transmit the received input beam as a transmitted beam, wherein the adjustable polarization rotators are divided into a first group having at least one adjustable polarization rotator to be on one side of the waveplate in the optical path and a second group having at least one adjustable polarization rotator to be on the other side of the waveplate in the optical path;

an output optical polarizer in the optical path to receive and filter the transmitted beam as an output beam polarized in a direction along a polarization direction of the output optical polarizer;

a photodetector in the optical path to receive the output beam from the output optical polarizer and operable to measure a power level of the output beam; and

a control and processing unit operable to control the polarization rotators to be at different collections of rotator settings to generate different states of polarization in the transmitted beam to obtain different power levels of the output beam at the photodetector, respectively,

wherein the control and processing unit is programmed to

for each collection of rotator settings for the adjustable polarization rotators corresponding to a generated state of polarization in the transmitted beam, apply presumed values for Stokes parameters of the input polarization state of the input beam and component parameters for the adjustable polarization rotators, the waveplate and the output optical polarizer in a Mueller matrix formulation for an optical system formed of the adjustable polarization rotators, the waveplate and the output optical polarizer in the optical path to compute a power level of the output beam at the photodetector;

obtain a sum of squared values of differences between computed power levels of the output beam and respective measured power levels of the output beam for the different states of polarization generated via controlling the polarization rotators to be at the different collections of rotator settings, respectively;

adjust at least one of the presumed values for Stokes parameters of the input polarization state of the input beam and the component parameters to search for a selected set of values for the Stokes parameters of the input polarization state of the input beam and the component parameters that minimize the sum; and

use values for Stokes parameters in the selected set of values to represent a measured input polarization state of the input beam.

14. The device as in claim 13 , wherein the wave plate is a quarter wave plate.

15. The device as in claim 13 , wherein each of the first and the second group includes at least one pair of adjustable polarization rotators.

16. The device as in claim 13 , wherein each adjustable polarization rotator is a magneto-optic (MO) rotator.

17. The device as in claim 13 , wherein each adjustable polarization rotator is responsive to a first control signal to rotate polarization by a fixed angle in a first direction, and responsive to a second control signal to rotate the polarization by the fixed angle in a second, opposite direction.