Comparative analysis between nanorods and nanowires by using depolarized and diffuse light

Changes in the polarization state of light due to its interaction (reflection and transmission) with samples of CuSCN nanorod and ZnO nanowire arrays are analyzed and compared following a recently proposed technique (Valente et al., 2019). The determination of the degree of polarization and measurements of diffusive light are used to investigate the influence of the morphology of nanorods and nanowires on the optical properties. It is shown that the CuSCN nanorods are better than ZnO nanowires to preserve polarization, although the degree of polarization decreases with the lengths for both materials. It is shown that the degree of polarization correlate with the diffusive light, which allow an estimation of the large scale uniformity of the samples. However, it is also shown that the loss of polarization quality can be present even in absence of diffusion, which indicates that the interferometric effect on the nanoscale should be an important cause of the depolarizing effect. •The polarization properties of nanostructures are analyzed through Stokes parameters measurements.•Nanorods and nanowires are compared using partial polarized light.•Correlations between loss of polarization and scattered light are analyzed.•Diffuse light and the degree of polarization reveal global level of order.