Patent ID: 8456632

Claim:
A vectorial polarimetry apparatus for analyzing the three-dimensional electromagnetic field resulting from an interaction between a focused illuminating beam and a sample to be observed, by characterizing the distribution of the state of polarization of the light across a measurement plane, the apparatus comprising: a) a spatial polarization state generator comprising an illumination source for generating a beam of light and means to provide non-homogenous control of the state of polarization at different positions across the beam width of the beam; b) a focusing system for bringing said illuminating light beam to a focus, wherein the focusing system has a numerical aperture greater than 0.6 so as to produce a tight focus with a three-dimensional electromagnetic field vectorial structure at the focus wherein in each and every point in space in the volume region around the focus, all three components of the electromagnetic field vector are non-zero or zero; and c) at least one spatial polarization state analyzer comprising a polarization sensitive detector adapted to measure the state of polarization of the light from the sample at different positions across the width of the measuring plane to retrieve information on the three-dimensional vectorial electromagnetic interaction of the illuminated focused field and the sample.