Self-referenced polarization augmented Jones matrix imaging using cyclic shearing interferometry.

Jones matrices are imperative in polarization holography, elucidating the polarization-dependent anisotropic characterization of birefringent materials. Jones matrices are experimentally measured from complex electric-field components of polarized light and require intricate imaging systems, thereby limiting their adaptability to multidisciplinary imaging applications. We propose a compact, self-referenced, and highly adaptive polarization-sensitive imaging system capable of acquiring the spatially resolved Jones matrix in real-time. This technique leverages a simple angular-multiplexing scheme, wherein the object and reference beams originate from the same wavefront, facilitated by a highly stable cyclic shearing interferometer (CSI). CSI enables the collinear yet partially shifted light beams carrying the sample's complex information, followed by a polarization image sensor to simultaneously record the complex orthogonal polarization components at the image plane over the Fourier-frequency domain. The feasibility of the proposed technique is experimentally validated by measuring the spatially resolved Jones matrix elements and associated anisotropic characteristics of birefringent samples (a birefringent USAF target and a biological sample) using Jones matrix decomposition.