Abstract: Traditional CMOS and CCD imaging sensors capture two of the three fundamental properties of light: color and intensity. The third fundamental property of light, polarization, has been largely ignored by the imaging industry and research community in part by the human inability to “see” polarization properties. Nevertheless, polarization-contrast imaging has proven to be very useful in gaining additional visual information in optically scattering environments, such as target contrast enhancement in hazy/foggy conditions, depth mapping in underwater imaging, and in normal environmental conditions such as noncontact fingerprint detection, among others. Polarization imaging tends to provide information that is largely uncorrelated with spectral and intensity images. In this talk, I will present our latest research efforts in developing a division of focal plane imaging sensor capable of recording all three fundamental properties of light in high resolution and in real time. This sensor monolithically combines aluminum nanowires with CMOS imaging elements in order to create a spectral-polarization imaging sensor. I will cover both nanofabrication techniques as well as image processing algorithms that are mandated for these new types of sensors. I will conclude with examples of applications for this sensor in both medicine and biology.