A nine-channeled partial Mueller matrix polarimeter

Abstract

We have recently introduced channeled-partial Mueller matrix polarimeters as a potential design for measuring a limited number of Mueller elements for remote sensing discrimination. Because in such systems the polarization information is modulated in space or spectrum, the corresponding carrier domain ends up sharing two different types of information, thus leading to a reduction of bandwidth for each. In this work, we concentrate on an efficient nine-channel/nine-reconstructables design, which limits the associated resolution loss by limiting the overall complexity of the system. Employing structured decomposition techniques allows us to produce a system description that provides an analytically deducible set of reconstructables that include 𝑚 00 , any two linear combinations of the elements within the diattenuation vector, any two linear combinations of the elements within the polarizance vector, as well as the linear combinations specified by the Kronecker product of the diattenuation and polarizance vectors. Finally, we optimize the available polarimeter parameters to align the nine reconstructables with the desirables derived from sample data, while maintaining the ability to discriminate between different objects.

Optimal Frames for Polarization State Reconstruction

“…Although intuitively simple to understand and easy to implement, this polarimeter performs sub-optimally. Much effort has been invested over the years to optimise the geometry of polarimeters using metrics such as the total variance on the inferred Stokes vector [6,7], information content [8][9][10][11], the determinant of the instrument matrix [12][13][14] and signal to noise ratio [15]. Perhaps most popular, however, is the condition number, κ, of the instrument matrix [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] which describes the stability of the polarisation inference problem regardless of reconstruction algorithm and bounds the extent to which relative measurement errors are amplified during state reconstruction.…”

Complete Mueller matrix from a partial polarimetry experiment: the nine-element case

“…Other designs allow for twelve-element partial polarimetry where only a single column (row) of the Mueller matrix is missing [4,10]. All these designs can be considered to be special cases of the so-called channeled partial Mueller polarimetry whereby (at least) nine "channels" (linear combinations of Mueller matrix elements) are measured [11].…”

Design and construction of a snapshot full-Stokes polarimetric camera : seeing through fog

“…It is a technique that measures the polarimetric information by encoding and decoding the incident light in spectral, temporal or spatial domains. Modulated polarimeters were first introduced by Oka and Kato [84] and then extended to get single-shot polarimetric images [84][85][86][87][88]. They are based on polarization elements designed to modulate the incident light beam in spatial, temporal or spectral domains.…”