Understanding Imaging Polarimeters as Modulated Information Systems
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Description
The measurement of polarization information in optical imaging is made complicated by the fact that traditional optical detectors are polarization-blind and only measure intensity. In order to determine the polarization state of light across the scene, the intensity at each point must be modified in a controllable fashion over a series of measurements so that the distribution of polarization information can be inferred from these measurements. There are two general strategies for accomplishing this. The first method — generally referred to as wavefront division polarimetry — breaks the light into a series of channels, each with its own combination of polarization elements. The light in each of these channels is directed to an independent detector array, and the outputs are combined in order to estimate the polarization state. Wavefront division polarimeters have the advantage of obtaining the full space-time-wavelength resolution of the detectors. However, the disadvantage of such systems is the need for alignment, temporal synchronization and polarimetric aberration compensation across the channels. Additionally, there are practical limits to how many such channels can be put into a single system. The second strategy, and the one considered in this talk, is the class of modulated polarimeter that uses a single detector array to capture intensity information that has been modulated in space, time, wavelength or some combination of the three. Modulated polarimeters have the advantage of inherent spatial, temporal and wavelength alignment, but this comes at the expense of a reduction of the overall system bandwidth, since now a single detector is used to measure multiple channels.
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