Real-time analysis of partially polarized light with a space-variant subwavelength dielectric grating

A novel method for real-time polarization measurement is presented. The method is based on a space-variant wave plate that we realized as a computer-generated space-variant subwavelength dielectric grating. The Stokes parameters of the incident beam are determined by Fourier analysis of the space-variant intensity transmitted through the grating and an analyzer. We discuss the design and realization of such wave plates and demonstrate our technique with polarization measurements of both polarized and partially polarized CO2-laser radiation at a wavelength of 10.6 mum. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.