Research On Whole Stokes Polarization Imaging

Full-Stokes imaging polarimeter is a combination of a polarimeter and a camera. The polarimeter can obtain the polarization information and the two-dimensional image information of each point of a target. The polarization information is independent of the spectral information, so it enhances the recognizability of an object and can be an effective basis for identifying surface features. Full-Stokes imaging technology has important application.This thesis focuses on the key technologies of full-Stokes imaging polarimeter. Based on the division of time polarimeter, the principle of polarized light and full polarization information are introduced. The basic principle of the full-Stokes imaging polarimeter is analyzed. The system matrix, Stokes vector of the emergent light, Stokes vector of the incident light and system errors are discussed. The retardance of the retarder and the initial direction of the fast axis of the retarder are researched. A method to calibrate the initial direction of the fast axis of the retarder is proposed emphatically. The principle and procedures of the calibration are analyzed. Two sets of rotation angle of the retarder are used to improve the polarization measuring accuracy. The full-Stokes polarization imaging experiments are carried out. The system is designed and the calibration experiment is carried out. The validation experiment and the detection experiment are carried out. Experimental results prove the good performance of the system with simple setup.