6–10 Jul 2026
University of the Western Cape
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
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Exploring Birefringence Effects in Polarization-Based Quantitative Phase Imaging

7 Jul 2026, 17:20
1h 20m
Great Hall (University of the Western Cape)

Great Hall

University of the Western Cape

Poster Presentation Track C - Photonics Poster Session 1

Speaker

Calvin Groenewald (Stellenbosch University)

Description

Quantitative Phase Imaging (QPI) methods that rely on polarization optics, such as Single-Shot Optical Quadrature Microscopy (SSOQM), offer high-speed, label-free phase measurements but are fundamentally challenged by birefringent samples.

In anisotropic media, phase retardance and polarization-dependent transmission violate the scalar phase assumption and strongly couple phase to polarization, so that the standard phase-recovery model in SSOQM can break down entirely, producing incorrect phase maps. In this poster, we outline how birefringence invalidates the core assumptions underlying our polarization-based SSOQM implementation and investigate various approaches proposed in literature to address related issues in similar polarimetry QPI schemes. Using simple Jones and Stokes formalisms, we highlight the regimes in which polarization-based QPI is vulnerable to birefringence and summarize strategies such as additional Stokes-parameter measurements and concepts from techniques such as Jones Phase Microscopy (JPM) as possible routes toward birefringence robust QPI.

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Author

Calvin Groenewald (Stellenbosch University)

Co-authors

Gurthwin Bosman (Stellenbosch University) Pieter Neethling (Stellenbosch University)

Presentation materials

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