The polarisation Sagnac speedmeter interferometer has the potential to replace the Michelson interferometer as the instrumental basis for future generations of ground-based gravitational wave detectors. The quantum noise benefit of this speedmeter is dependent on high-quality polarisation optics, the polarisation beam-splitter (PBS) and quarter-waveplate (QWP) optics that are key to this detector configuration and careful consideration of the effect of birefringence in the arm cavities of the interferometer. A PBS with an extinction ratio of better than 4000 in transmission and 700 in reflection for a 41 angle of incidence was characterised along with a QWP of birefringence of . The cavity mirror optics of a 10m prototype polarisation Sagnac speedmeter were measured to have birefringence in the range 1 10⁻³ to 2 10⁻⁵ radians. This level of birefringence, along with the QWP imperfections, can be cancelled out by careful adjustment of the QWP angle, to the extent that the extinction ratio of the PBS is the leading limitation for the polarisation Sagnac speedmeter in terms of polarisation effects.

偏振 Sagnac 速度计干涉仪有可能取代迈克尔逊干涉仪，成为未来几代地基引力波探测器的仪器基础。该速度计的量子噪声优势取决于高质量的偏振光学器件、偏振分束器 (PBS) 和四分之一波片 (QWP) 光学器件，这些光学器件是此检测器配置的关键，并仔细考虑了臂中双折射的影响干涉仪的空腔。对于 41 个入射角，消光比在透射方面优于 4000，在反射方面优于 700 的 PBS 的特征在于双折射的 QWP 为。测量 10m 原型偏振 Sagnac 速度计的腔镜光学器件具有 1 10 ^-3范围内的双折射到 2 10 ^-5弧度。这种水平的双折射以及 QWP 缺陷可以通过仔细调整 QWP 角度来消除，以至于 PBS 的消光比是偏振 Sagnac 速度计在偏振效应方面的主要限制。