Tomographic measurements of dielectric tensors of optically anisotropic structures

Abstract

Ranging from material science to tissue biology, three-dimensional (3D) optically anisotropic structures have been investigated for versatile purposes in various research areas. However, conventional methods indirectly access information of 3D anisotropic structure, due to the lack of direct imaging modality for 3D anisotropy. Here, we present a method for reconstructing 3D dielectric tensors of anisotropic structures. Dielectric tensor, a physical descriptor for vectorial light-matter interaction, serves intrinsic information of optical anisotropy including principal refractive indices and optic axes. We demonstrate quantitative tomographic measurements of various nematic liquid-crystal structures and their fast 3D nonequilibrium dynamics.