Highly polarization-sensitive thick gratings for a holographic Stokesmeter

A holographic Stokesmeter has the potential to be useful in high-speed polarization imaging applications. Highly polarization-sensitive gratings are an important component in a robust holographic Stokesmeter. We demonstrate a set of individual holographic gratings in a thick substrate displaying a high contrast in diffraction efficiency as a function of the polarization of the read beam. We confirm that the observed dependence is consistent with the coupled-wave analysis of such gratings. In addition, we performed a numerical analysis of the noise tolerance of such a Stokesmeter, and suggest a heterodyne architecture to further enhance signal-to-noise ratio.