Mapping the polarization distribution of arbitrary vector polarization beam

Vector polarization beams have been the topic of numerous theoretical and experimental investigations due to their special optical properties. Knowing the polarization states over the beam cross section of a vector beam is crucial to related researches. In this paper, we report a scheme to map the polarization distribution of an arbitrary vector beam with high precision. By using Jones matrix theory, the method has been analyzed in theory. The corresponding measurement setup has been built and the verification experiments have shown the feasibility of our scheme. Furthermore, the measurement precision has been systematically studied by Monte Carlo simulations.