Measurement Apparatus of Vectorial Optical Fields

Competitive Advantages: Carries information through turbid media without data degradation, Increases information rate while lowering error rates, Enables long range optical communication. An apparatus measures the transverse profile of vectorial optical field beams, including at least the directional inten­sity complex amplitude and the polarization spatial profile. The apparatus contains a polarization separation module, a weak perturbation module, and a detection module. Char­acterizing the transverse profile of vector fields provides an optical metrology tool for both fundamental studies of vectorial optical fields and a wide spectrum of applications, including microscopy, surveillance, imaging, communica­tion, material processing, and laser trapping.USF inventors have developed a method for communicating optical data. This method utilizes vectorial optical fields as the information carrier. The information is directly encoded as different vectorial modes, and is decoded by using specific differential spatial phase decoders for high dimensional communication. For multiplexed operation, each channel uses one vectorial mode, and the information is sent through different modes simultaneously. These protocols are resistant to moderate atmospheric turbulence and can operate without the need for an adaptive optics module. This helps the system to be more efficient and reliable. The invention provides an optical metrology tool for fundamental studies of vectorial optical fields and has applications in microscopy, surveillance, imaging, optical fiber communication, material processing and laser trapping.