Polarimetric method for liquid crystal displays characterization in presence of phase fluctuations

A polarimetry based method able to characterize optical properties of linear Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), even in presence of time-fluctuations of the phase, is proposed in this work. In particular, mean linear retardance, Liquid Crystal (LC) fast axis orientation and phase fluctuation amplitude of LCDs can be obtained with the proposed alternative technique. This technique enables to achieve these important features of LCDs with a set-up significantly less complicated to build up and with faster measurements than previously proposed techniques, which are based on diffraction or interferometry experiments. The validity of the technique is tested by measuring two different LCDs: one monopixel PA-LC panel working in transmission and a reflective PA-LCoS display. The technique provides similar results than those obtained by using previously proposed methods, confirming the validity of our alternative technique. © 2013 Optical Society of America.