Portable Imaging Polarimeter and Imaging Experiments

Polarimetry is the method of recording the state of polarization of light. Imaging polarimetry extends this method to recording the spatially resolved state of polarization within a scene. Imaging-polarimetry data have the potential to improve the detection of manmade objects in natural backgrounds. We have constructed a midwave infrared complete imaging polarimeter consisting of a fixed wire-grid polarizer and rotating form-birefringent retarder. The retardance and the orientation angles of the retarder were optimized to minimize the sensitivity of the instrument to noise in the measurements. The optimal retardance was found to be 132{degree} rather than the typical 90{degree}. The complete imaging polarimeter utilized a liquid-nitrogen cooled PtSi camera. The fixed wire-grid polarizer was located at the cold stop inside the camera dewar. The complete imaging polarimeter was operated in the 4.42-5 {micro}m spectral range. A series of imaging experiments was performed using as targets a surface of water, an automobile, and an aircraft. Further analysis of the polarization measurements revealed that in all three cases the magnitude of circular polarization was comparable to the noise in the calculated Stokes-vector components