  We demonstrate that polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography
(PS-OCT) is suitable to map the stress distribution within materials in a
contactless and non-destructive way. In contrast to transmission
photoelasticity measurements the samples do not have to be transparent but can
be of scattering nature. Denoising and analysis of fringe patterns in single
PS-OCT retardation images are demonstrated to deliver the basis for a
quantitative whole-field evaluation of the internal stress state of samples
under investigation.
