Degree of Polarization Calculation for Laser Backscattering from Typical Geometric Rough Surfaces at Long Distance

Abstract

Measurement of the degree of polarization of backscattering light from rough surfaces plays an important role in targets-detection applications. The polarization bidirectional reflectance function is the key to establish the relation between the polarization states of incidence and backscattering light. For the purpose of obtaining a polarized bidirectional reflectance distribution function (pBRDF) of a realistic, complicated target, it is decomposed as typical geometric surfaces and analytically calculated as the degree of polarization of the backscattering light, using a microfacet model, under conditions in which the scale of the target is far less than the target distance. In an experiment testing several typical geometric models, the results coincided with the theoretical calculation. The degree of polarization varied substantially as the rotation angle of the target changed, but showed little dependence on the size of target. The results have potential in applications discriminating between targets at different spatial orientations.

Modified Model of Polarized Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function Used for Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)

“…In 2021, Chen H. et al proposed a multi parameter pBRDF model that can better describe the infrared polarization scattering characteristics of coatings [19]. In 2022, Shen S. et al from the National University of Defense Technology proposed a method for calculating the degree of polarization of laser backscattering from a typical geometric rough surface at long distance based on the pBRDF model [20]. This method calculates the degree of polarization through the characteristics of material morphology, rather than material properties, which provides a new idea for calculating the polarization scattering characteristics of targets., However, the existing pBRDF models are mostly improvements on the Hyde model proposed by Hyde M.W.…”