Patent ID: 8830462

Claim:
An optical characteristic measurement device comprising: a) a division optical system for directing a light emitted from an object to be measured, on which a linearly polarized light is incident, to a first polarizing plate and a second polarizing plate; b) an analyzer for allowing a synthetic light in a predetermined polarization direction to be transmitted therethrough, the synthetic light being made of a first polarization component transmitted through the first polarizing plate and a second polarization component transmitted through the second polarizing plate; c) an imaging optical system for directing the synthetic light transmitted through the analyzer to a single point so as to thereby form an interference image; d) a detection unit for detecting a light intensity of the interference image; e) a phase difference changer for changing a difference in optical path length between the first polarization component and the second polarization component that respectively travel from the first polarizing plate and the second polarizing plate to the analyzer, to thereby change a phase difference between the first polarization component and the second polarization component; and f) a processing unit for Fourier-transforming data of a change in light intensity detected by the detection unit along with the change in phase difference, to thereby acquire an amplitude per wavelength and a birefringent phase difference per wavelength of the light emitted from the object to be measured.