Abstract
We describe a polarimetric investigation of an inhomogeneous film of anisotropic crystallites, for which the crystallite size cannot be resolved by the polarimeter. We present a model of the film as a collection of stacks of randomly selected linear wave plates and present a simulation of the polarimeter output with the model film as the specimen. We analyze the simulation results in terms of a stopped random walk on the Poincaré sphere. The simulation results are sensitive to the spatial resolution of the polarimeter, crystallite size, film thickness, and the presence of isotropic phases. When all but one variable can be determined independently, the model can be used to estimate the remaining variable. The results reproduce linear-birefringence-type measurements on polycrystalline BaTiO3 thin films. The relative amount of isotropic (cubic and amorphous) to tetragonal phase in two BaTiO3 films is estimated.
© 1995 Optical Society of America
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