One hundred years ago Michelson discovered circular polarization in reflection from beetles. Today a novel Mueller-matrix ellipsometry setup allows unprecedented detailed characterization of the beetles' polarization properties. A formalism based on elliptical polarization for description of reflection from scarab beetles is here proposed and examples are given on four beetles of different character: Coptomia laevis – a simple dielectric mirror; Cetonia aurata – a left-hand narrow-band elliptical polarizer; Anoplognathus aureus – a broad-band elliptical polarizer; and Chrysina argenteola – a left-hand polarizer for visible light at small angles, whereas for larger angles, red reflected light is right-handed polarized. We confirm the conclusion of previous studies which showed that a detailed quantification of ellipticity and degree of polarization of cuticle reflection can be performed instead of only determining whether reflections are circularly polarized or not. We additionally investigate reflection as a function of incidence angle. This provides much richer information for understanding the behaviour of beetles and for structural analysis.

The thermal behaviour of an organic photovoltaic (OPV) binary system comprised of a liquid-crystalline fluorene-based polymer and a fullerene derivative is investigated. We employ variable-temperature ellipsometry complemented by photo- and electroluminescence spectroscopy as well as optical microscopy and scanning force nanoscopy to explore phase transitions of blend thin films. The high glass transition temperature correlates with the good thermal stability of solar cells based on these materials. Furthermore, we observe partial miscibility of the donor and acceptor together with the tendency of excess fullerene derivative to segregate into exceedingly large domains. Thus, for charge generation less adequate bulk-heterojunction nanostructures are poised to develop if this mixture is exposed to more elevated temperatures. Gratifyingly, the solubility of the fullerene derivative in the polymer phase is found to decrease if a higher molecular-weight polymer fraction is employed, which offers routes towards improving the photovoltaic performance of non-crystalline OPV blends.

NiO thin films with varied oxygen contents are grown on Si(100) and c-Al2O3 at a substrate temperature of 300 °C using pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtering. We characterize the structure and optical properties of NiO changes as functions of the oxygen content. NiO with the cubic structure, single phase, and predominant orientation along (111) is found on both substrates. X-ray diffraction and pole figure analysis further show that NiO on the Si(100) substrate exhibits fiber-textured growth, while twin domain epitaxy was achieved on c-Al2O3, with NiO(111)∥Al2O3(0001) and NiO[11¯0]∥Al2O3[101¯0] or NiO[1¯10]∥Al2O3[21¯1¯0] epitaxial relationship. The oxygen content in NiO films did not have a significant effect on the refractive index, extinction coefficient, and absorption coefficient. This suggests that the optical properties of NiO films remained unaffected by changes in the oxygen content.

Optical chirality, in terms of circular birefringence and circular dichroism, is described by its electromagnetic and magnetoelectric material tensors, and the corresponding optical activity contributes to the Mueller matrix. Here, spectroscopic ellipsometry in the spectral range 210–1690 nm is used to address chiral phenomena by measuring Mueller matrices in transmission. Three approaches to determine chirality parameters are discussed. In the first approach, applicable in the absence of linear polarization effects, circular birefringence and circular dichroism are evaluated directly from elements of a Mueller matrix. In the second method, differential decomposition is employed, which allows for the unique separation of chirality parameters from linear anisotropic parameters as well as from depolarization provided that the sample is homogeneous along the optical path. Finally, electromagnetic modeling using the Tellegen constitutive relations is presented. The last method also allows structural effects to be included. The three methods to quantify optical chirality are demonstrated for selected materials, including sugar solutions, $\alpha$-quartz, liquid crystals, beetle cuticle, and films of cellulose nanocrystals.

Spectral Mueller matrices measured at multiple angles of incidence as well as Mueller matrix images are recorded on the exoskeletons (cuticles) of the scarab beetles Cetonia aurata and Chrysina argenteola. Cetonia aurata is green whereas Chrysina argenteola is gold-colored. When illuminated with natural (unpolarized) light, both species reflect left-handed and near-circularly polarized light originating from helicoidal structures in their cuticles. These structures are referred to as circular Bragg reflectors. For both species the Mueller matrices are found to be nondiagonal depolarizers. The matrices are Cloude decomposed to a sum of non-depolarizing matrices and it is found that the cuticle optical response, in a first approximation can be described as a sum of Mueller matrices from an ideal mirror and an ideal circular polarizer with relative weights determined by the eigenvalues of the covariance matrices of the measured Mueller matrices. The spectral and image decompositions are consistent with each other. A regression-based decomposition of the spectral and image Mueller matrices is also presented whereby the basic optical components are assumed to be a mirror and a circular polarizer as suggested by the Cloude decomposition. The advantage with a regression decomposition compared to a Cloude decomposition is its better stability as the matrices in the decomposition are determined a priori. The origin of the depolarizing features are discussed but from present data it is not possible to conclude whether the two major components, the mirror and the circular polarizer are laterally separated in domains in the cuticle or if the depolarization originates from the intrinsic properties of the helicoidal structure.