Real-time measurement of the liquid-crystal optic-axis angle and effective refractive index distribution based on a common-path interferometer

A common-path interferometer for the real-time measurement of the liquid-crystal (LC) optic-axis angle and effective refractive index distribution is proposed. This method involves adding a polarizer and polarization camera to a general optical microscope. This requires only single-exposure imaging without changing any optical elements, and greatly simplifies the measurement process and system. In addition, the measurement results are unaffected by light-source power fluctuations or a non-uniform spatial distribution. Therefore, this method is suitable for measuring the LC optic-axis angle and effective refractive index of electrically controlled LC devices. Finally, the feasibility and validity of the proposed method are verified by simulation and experimentation.