Patent ID: 7064828

Claim:
A metrology device that detects the polarization state of an electromagnetic beam that is incident on a sample, said device comprising: a polarization state generator, including an electromagnetic source that is a flash bulb that turns on and off to produce a pulsed electromagnetic beam with multiple wavelengths, wherein the polarization state generator produces a pulsed electromagnetic beam of known polarization state that is incident on the sample; a spatially dependent polarizing element in the path of the pulsed electromagnetic beam that varies the phase of the pulsed electromagnetic beam spatially along a first direction; a wavelength-dispersing component within the path of the pulsed electromagnetic beam, the wavelength-dispersing component separates the component wavelengths of the pulsed electromagnetic beam along a second direction; and a multi-element detector within the path of the pulsed electromagnetic beam after the spatially dependent polarizing element, wherein the multi-element detector detects the intensity of the pulsed electromagnetic beam as a function of phase along the first direction and as a function of wavelength along the second direction.