Abstract: A system for measuring the complex degree of coherence of beams of optical radiation is disclosed. The system generally consists of a polarizer for preparing initially the state of the radiation field entering the device, a retarder oriented so as to divide the polarized beam into two orthogonally polarized components with a specific relative temporal retardation, and an electro-optic modulator which modulates the relative temporal phase shift as a function of time. The resultant beam is divided into three beams having independent states of polarization so that each is caused to fall upon a separate detector. The teachings of this disclosure show how these three measurements of intensity together with the known degree of modulation can be used to compute the complex degree of coherence and also the mean wavelength of quasi-monochromatic light analyzed by the system.