Polarization Effects In Astronomical Spatial Interferometry

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Abstract
One of the operational modes of the European Very Large Telescope (VLT) will be the one in which the four 8.2 meter diameter telescopes will be used together with two or more smaller telescopes with about 2 meter aperture as a spatial amplitude interferometer. One of the main factors affecting the performance of this interferometric array relates to the polarization characteristics of the optics composing the legs of the array. Retardation effects and reorientation of the polarization coordinate frame of reference by reflections are a major cause of fringe contrast decrease (and even disappearance). I have analyzed these effects and developed a raytracing algorithm to calculate the polarization transfer and the resulting fringe contrast decrease.

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