Welcome to the website of Oriol Arteaga. Here you will mostly hear about my research activities which mainly focus in polarimetry, ellipsometry or, more in general, in light-matter interactions. You can contact me at oarteaga(AT)ub.edu and at www.ub.edu/plat
Research in Catalan Universities is organized through Research Groups recognized by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR). In the last call, I led the application for a new emergent research group called “Polarized light Applications & Technologies (PLAT)”, which was granted.
I made a preliminary (under-construction) website of the group at: www.ub.edu/plat
However, this (www.mmpolarimetry.com) personal website will of course continue to exist, as it already has a long history, offers more personal views on research topics, and is easier to update.
Two new projects funded by Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, will start very soon.
“Microscopio de matriz de Mueller” (PDC2022-133625-I00).
“Caracterización óptica de células solares altamente texturizadas para optimizar su eficiencia” (TED2021-129639B-I00).
Funding opportunities for interested students may be possible (contact me).
Listed in the “Stanford list”
For a second consecutive year, I have been listed in the list of the top 2% of most influential researchers in their field. The database gathers the leading scientists in different disciplines and is made from the information provided by the Scopus database.
I have been appointed as Topical Editor in Applied Optics in the areas of Polarization, Polarimetry, Ellipsometry, and Polarimetric Imaging. Applied Optics, from Optica Publishing Group (formerly Optical Society of America), is my top preferred journal for applications-centered research in optics, and I have published there many articles. I hope I will receive many interesting submissions related to these topics and, therefore, I also encourage researchers working on polarization, polarimetry and ellipsometry to consider Applied Optics as a suitable journal for their best works.
The purpose of this post is to provide some interesting documents related to the history of ellipsometry. It is sometimes considered that Paul Drude was the “inventor” of ellipsometry. Despite the many contributions of P. Drude, in my opinion this statement is not true and, as almost all aspects and techniques related with the polarization of light, ellipsometry was invented in France, as early as mid XIXth century. It is however true, that at that time the influence of thin films on ellipsometry measurements was still not discovered or understood (althought the associated ellipticity was already measured), so the technique was mostly regarded as a method to determine optical constants of bulk materials. The relation between ellipsometry and thin films came later, with the works of P. Drude and Lord Rayleight.
Jules Jamin
Jules Célestin Jamin (1818-1886). If ellipsometry needs an inventor, it is him. He did many ellipsometry measurements and described the first ellipsometer, which was later made commercial by French optic intrument makers Soleil/Duboscq.
Here I share two of his publications from 1847 and 1850, which clearly describe how the polarization ellipse is measured upon light reflection on different materials.
Samuel Haughton (1821-1897) made a great English summary of Jamin’s Publications and he himself made many more measurements using an ellipsometer that replicated Jamin’s description.
Jamin’s 1850 publication gives a detailed description of the instrument he was using. This instrument was made commercial by the French Scientific Instrument Makers Soleil, Duboscq, and their successors. The instrument was sold under the name of “Grand cercle de Jamin et Sernármont” and comprised one rotatable polarizer, one rotatable analyzer and an ajustable compensator. The “grand cercle” was used to adjust the angle of incidence. It seems it was possible to purchase this instrument during 1870s, possibly even earlier.
The image capture above comes from this catalog of instruments:
Interestingly, the instrument could be used both horizontally or vertically, allowing the sample to sit horizantally when needed (this was for example essential for the measurement of the refractive angle of liquids, which they did). I have found this photo of the grand “cercle” mounted vertically (samples horizontal then), although I am afraid that whoever took this photo did not arrange “ellipsometer arms” in a reasonable configuration.
I am looking for PhD cantidates to be funded by the 2022 FI scholarship program from Catalan research Agency. Students with a good academic record interested in developing a PhD in Physical Optics with a focus on the polarization of light can contact me,
This ellipsometer was build in our Lab during 2019 and 2020 in joint work with visiting student Subiao Bian (Huaqiao University, China). Has several features: compensation using Fresnel Rhombs and discrete angle positioning that makes it an interesting device. The manuscript has been selected for an Editor’s Pick in Applied Optics.