Research on auto measurement system of phase retardation of wave plates based on LabVIEW

The original measurement system of wave-plates phase retardation is non-automated, low efficiency and not suitable for a large scale wave-plate measurement. In order to solving these problems, this paper designed an auto measurement system of phase retardation of wave plates based on LabVIEW, computer, PCI-1753 digital I/O card, and some photoelectric conversion instrument. The hardware part of it is composed of a digital I/O card, 3 degree-measurement numeral display meters and a photocurrent meter. The system software is developed with LabVIEW. This paper implements the functions of synchronic data acquisition, data display and charting, motor control, data processing, and auto measuring, so an integrated, automated, high-accuracy measurement system of wave plates is established, and the efficiency of wave plates measurement were improved substantially.