Scientific and Industrial Liquid Crystal Polarimetery Applications [5741-23]

Since the human eye is insensitive to polarization, there is a large amount of information in many situations, which is not readily utilized. Measuring the polarization state of light is useful in many research fields including biology, chemistry, astronomy and remote sensing. The first portion of the paper discusses the simple application of accurately measuring the retardance value and fast axis position of an unknown waveplate. We will mention some of the many polarimetry applications especially in the context of non-mechanical, liquid crystal based polarimeter experimental technique. Some of these examples are from biology showing tissue birefringence changes, astronomy for solar imaging, polarimetric visualization and landmine detection.