Polarization microscope simulations using an efficient transfer matrix-based beam propagation method

A technique for white light polarizing microscope simulations is presented. It uses wide-angle diffraction and accurately simulates the transfer properties of the imaging system, including the objective's finite numerical aperture, coherence properties of the illuminant, and camera spectral response. The technique is based on the transfer matrix formalism, which we generalize for 3D and build a split-step fast Fourier transform beam propagation method (FFT-BPM) to study birefringent optical elements, such as liquid crystals. The implementation of the algorithm is numerically efficient, allowing tunable diffraction calculation accuracy and fast calculation speed. To demonstrate the technique, we calculate the diffraction efficiency of a 1D circular polarization grating, compute micrographs of 2D diffraction gratings, and compare the results with experiments and computations using finite difference time domain (FDTD).