Poincaré Sphere Visualization of n-Paddle Fiber Polarization Controller

This Demonstration shows the output polarization state of a 2- or 3-paddle fiber polarization controller as a red arrow on a Poincaré sphere. The sphere represents the tilt angles , , with respect to the horizontal of the paddles in the polarization controller. The input polarization state, shown as a blue arrow, is interpreted as a linearly polarized light along the horizontal direction. The 2-paddle polarization controller consists of two concatenated quarter-wave plates, while the 3-paddle polarization controller consists of a half-wave plate in between two quarter-wave plates.