Quantitative polarimetric wavefront imaging

Imaging both the polarization and the wavefront of a light beam is a complex task that typically demands several intensity acquisitions. Furthermore, sequential acquisition solutions are incompatible with the monitoring of ultra-fast processes. As a possible solution for single-shot wavefront and full-Stokes polarimetric imaging, we propose here a vector-beam lateral shearing interferometer. The device, composed of a patterned polarization-modulating Hartmann mask placed in close vicinity to a camera, encodes all the information in the fringe pattern of a single-image acquisition. By extending lateral shearing interferometry to vector beams, this work opens avenues for characterizing complex metasurfaces and biological samples.