From polarized to polarimetric Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy is widely used in many areas of research and technology such as chemical analysis and material properties characterization. “Classic” Raman spectroscopy traditionally neglecting the polarization-of-light aspect, polarized Raman spectroscopy has been developed to further explore the possibilities offered by Raman scattering. Polarized Raman spectroscopy is based on the control of the linear polarization states of the incident and scattered radiations. The next step for enlarging the scope of the Raman scattering technique is to perform a complete polarimetric control of the scattered, as well as incident light. In this contribution, we present the implementation and the calibration of a Stokes polarimeter within the Raman scattering setup. We performed the calibration of the detection path of the setup and noticed that it modifies substantially the polarization state of the scattered light. In particular, the system introduced effects such as depolarization, diattenuation and retardance that need to be estimated before proceeding with quantitative polarization analysis.