Applied Computer Polarization-Singular Analysis of Polymer Packaging Materials

Abstract

This manuscript discusses the development of a singular approach to analyzing polarization-inhomogeneous laser fields in order to improve the manufacturing technology of packaging printing products. The analysis is based on a model approach, which represents polyethylene polymer film networks as a two-component amorphous-crystallite matrix. An analytical model is developed based on this representation to describe the formation mechanisms of the polarization-singular structure of the field of polymer films. The Jones-matrix approach is used to describe the scenarios for the formation of polarization-singular grids in the plane of digital images of polymer films with linearly birefringent fibrous grids. Experimental examples are presented to illustrate the presence of grids of characteristic values of vector-parametric and Mueller-matrix images of polyethylene polymer films with ordered and disordered fibrous networks. By determining the grids of characteristic values of Stokes-parametric and Mueller-matrix images of a polymer polycrystalline network, the scenario of the formation of polarization singularities in the object field can be predicted and criteria for diagnosing changes in optical anisotropy parameters can be identified. The Mueller-matrix analysis of the interaction of laser radiation with polycrystalline structures of polymer layers, carried out within the framework of the singular approach, reveals the conditions and orientation-phase mechanisms for the ‘generation’ of networks of polarization-singular states in the corresponding images of such objects. In the approximation of linear birefringence, an analytical relationship is established between polarization-singular states and characteristic values of a set of vector-parametric and Mueller-matrix images of optically anisotropic polymer layers. The presence of polarization singular states in images of polyethylene polymer layers is experimentally confirmed, and the correlation between networks of characteristic values of vector-parametric and Muller-matrix images of a birefringent fibrous network of polyethylene ordered along the directions of optical axes is determined. Overall, the singular approach to the analysis of polarization-inhomogeneous laser fields presented in this manuscript has potential applications in improving the manufacturing technology of packaging printing products by providing a more accurate and efficient method of diagnosing the linear and circular phase anisotropy of polymer film networks.

Keywords

• protection technology
• graphic information processing
• applied programming
• materials science
• printing and packaging materials