Scanning phase-interrogation polarimetry for wide dynamic optical activity measurement

•The homemade ZIPM with stable phase and low-voltage was successfully applied in the homodyne-based roll angular displacement measurements.•A scanning phase-interrogation method was systematically studied to measure the concentration variations of the fructose solutions.•The results showed a system resolution of around 0.07% in a wide concentration ranging from 0% to 50%.•The abrupt phase change enhanced the measurement resolutions through the transferred pulse-like signals from the differential operations.

A single-channel common-path interferometer is proposed for measuring the optical activity of chiral solutions based on homodyne technology. A scanning phase-interrogation polarimetry is adopted to monitor rotation angle shifts in different concentrations of chiral solutions. The homodyne waveguide phase modulator can provide stable phase modulation with a low applied voltage. In comparison with the conventional dual-channel heterodyne interferometer, the proposed homodyne interferometer has a simpler arrangement.