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Terahertz frequency-domain 4 × 4 Mueller matrix ellipsometer instrument designed for high-frequency magnetic resonance measurements

Rindert, Viktor LU orcid ; Ruder, Alexander ; Richter, Steffen LU ; Kühne, Philipp ; Bauer, Mark ; Darakchieva, Vanya LU and Schubert, Mathias LU orcid (2025) In Review of Scientific Instruments 96(8).
Abstract

We report a Mueller matrix ellipsometer design using dual continuously rotating anisotropic meta wave plates, which determines the full set of Mueller matrix elements in the terahertz spectral range. The instrument operates in the frequency domain and employs a frequency tunable, solid state synthesizer based, continuous wave terahertz source with sub-MHz bandwidth. The implemented source permits operation within 82-125 and 170-250 GHz, without and with an additional frequency doubler, respectively. The rotating wave plates produce sufficient modulation of the Stokes vector components of terahertz light to use the wave plates in polarization state generator and polarization state detector devices. Fast terahertz light detection rate of... (More)

We report a Mueller matrix ellipsometer design using dual continuously rotating anisotropic meta wave plates, which determines the full set of Mueller matrix elements in the terahertz spectral range. The instrument operates in the frequency domain and employs a frequency tunable, solid state synthesizer based, continuous wave terahertz source with sub-MHz bandwidth. The implemented source permits operation within 82-125 and 170-250 GHz, without and with an additional frequency doubler, respectively. The rotating wave plates produce sufficient modulation of the Stokes vector components of terahertz light to use the wave plates in polarization state generator and polarization state detector devices. Fast terahertz light detection rate of a quasi-optical solid state detector permits acquisition with few microseconds temporal resolution and electronic sweeping control of the source frequency. We develop a fast frequency sweeping scheme while continuously rotating the terahertz wave plates. Subsequent sorting of measured data permits measurements of Mueller matrix elements at hundreds of different wavelengths. The Mueller matrix elements are obtained by forward numerical reduction of the measured data using an algorithm developed by Ruder et al. [Opt. Lett. 45, 3541-3544 (2020)]. The instrument is combined with a magnetocryostat capable of reaching magnetic field strengths of −8 T…8 T and sample temperatures from 4 K…400 K. Hence, the instrument is suitable to measure the full Mueller matrix of samples with magnetic resonances as demonstrated recently by Rindert et al. [Phys. Rev. B 110, 054413 (2024)]. We discuss design, calibration, and example applications.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Review of Scientific Instruments
volume
96
issue
8
article number
083905
publisher
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
external identifiers
  • scopus:105014223110
  • pmid:40856544
ISSN
0034-6748
DOI
10.1063/5.0275135
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
id
4d3744dd-0c7a-4deb-9364-2ffe6704808e
date added to LUP
2025-09-08 12:30:06
date last changed
2025-09-10 03:33:34
@article{4d3744dd-0c7a-4deb-9364-2ffe6704808e,
  abstract     = {{<p>We report a Mueller matrix ellipsometer design using dual continuously rotating anisotropic meta wave plates, which determines the full set of Mueller matrix elements in the terahertz spectral range. The instrument operates in the frequency domain and employs a frequency tunable, solid state synthesizer based, continuous wave terahertz source with sub-MHz bandwidth. The implemented source permits operation within 82-125 and 170-250 GHz, without and with an additional frequency doubler, respectively. The rotating wave plates produce sufficient modulation of the Stokes vector components of terahertz light to use the wave plates in polarization state generator and polarization state detector devices. Fast terahertz light detection rate of a quasi-optical solid state detector permits acquisition with few microseconds temporal resolution and electronic sweeping control of the source frequency. We develop a fast frequency sweeping scheme while continuously rotating the terahertz wave plates. Subsequent sorting of measured data permits measurements of Mueller matrix elements at hundreds of different wavelengths. The Mueller matrix elements are obtained by forward numerical reduction of the measured data using an algorithm developed by Ruder et al. [Opt. Lett. 45, 3541-3544 (2020)]. The instrument is combined with a magnetocryostat capable of reaching magnetic field strengths of −8 T…8 T and sample temperatures from 4 K…400 K. Hence, the instrument is suitable to measure the full Mueller matrix of samples with magnetic resonances as demonstrated recently by Rindert et al. [Phys. Rev. B 110, 054413 (2024)]. We discuss design, calibration, and example applications.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rindert, Viktor and Ruder, Alexander and Richter, Steffen and Kühne, Philipp and Bauer, Mark and Darakchieva, Vanya and Schubert, Mathias}},
  issn         = {{0034-6748}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{8}},
  publisher    = {{American Institute of Physics (AIP)}},
  series       = {{Review of Scientific Instruments}},
  title        = {{Terahertz frequency-domain 4 × 4 Mueller matrix ellipsometer instrument designed for high-frequency magnetic resonance measurements}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0275135}},
  doi          = {{10.1063/5.0275135}},
  volume       = {{96}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}