Scanning, high resolution, probe of optical anisotropies for materials characterization

Advances in measurement devices spawn technological advances. New probes are needed to provide the necessary significant improvements to national and theater missile defense. Substantial improvements to present technology and the generation of newtechnologies are both needed. Optical components for hyperspectral and/or polarization imaging, parallel optical computing, optical signal processing, dense optical communication channels are a few examples of the advances needed. The scanningbirefringence microscope proposed here will provide an analytical and development tool for such optical components. The inevitable need for increased miniaturization of these components will continue to increase the importance of device.We propose an optical measuring technique, which can detect small change in the linear birefringence of an optical material or device. These changes may result from differences in processing such as chemical composition, physical alignment, etc. or fromundesired sources such as mechanical stress. The device is capable of both high resolution and high accuracy. It will provide information that complements such standard diagnostic tools as optical microscopes and scanning tunneling microscopes.The scanning birefringence microscope will complement and enhance traditional intensity-based microscopy. Its main purpose is to facilitate the development of optical components needed for advanced military and commercial imaging and communicationssystems. This technology can also have a wider impact. For example, cancerous cells have different birefringence properties that can be detected by this microscope and so provide the medical and biomedical industries with a new screen for abnormal cells.Additionally, it may be used in machine vision for microscopic inspection (process and quality control). Therefore, this advance in microscopic imaging can significantly impact industries such as the semiconductor, the optical, the biomedical and thebioengineering industries. Its most immediate use is in the development of telecommunications components that manipulate the polarization component of an optical signal. The manipulation may be for encoding purposes or for compensation.