| CPC G01N 21/21 (2013.01) [G01N 21/255 (2013.01); G01N 2201/0691 (2013.01)] | 14 Claims |

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1. A method of operating a polarization measuring device, comprising:
passing light having a predetermined input polarization state to a sample for a potentially polarization changing interaction with the sample,
passing the light from the sample through a polarization selective analyzer and at least partially to an intensity detector;
within a framework of a polarization modulation, varying a relative angle between an output polarization state of the light emanating from the sample and the analyzer, and
within a framework of a spectral modulation, varying a wavelength of the light reaching the intensity detector,
using the intensity detector for successively performing a plurality of intensity measurements at different constellations of polarization and spectral modulation states and storing corresponding intensity values together with polarization and spectral values representing the corresponding constellation, and wherein
the polarization modulation and the spectral modulation are performed simultaneously and continuously, the spectral modulation state is periodically varied a plurality of times during a single, monotonic variation of the polarization modulation state, and a plurality of successive intensity measurements are performed during each spectral modulation period (Tλ).
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