Our research vision is to establish quantifiable and reliable knowledge concerning the utility of imaging polarimetry. This knowledge would have practical value towards improving image analysis, informing technology investment, and developing new mathematical models and information metrics. In atmospheric sciences, polarimetry provides valuable constraints on optical and microphysical properties of aerosols when a strict accuracy requirement of 0.5% uncertainty in DoLP is met. To address this challenge the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and University of Arizona (UA) developed and built the MSPI. Ground-MSPI is an 8-band ultraviolet-visible-near infrared pushbroom camera, measuring polarization at 470, 660, and 865 nm. MSPI advances the state of the art in imaging polarimeters by measuring intensity and a Stokes parameter simultaneously at a single pixel. Because of its unprecedented accuracy, MSPI enables new scientific applications of polarimetric imaging where previously the signal-to-noise or alignment artifacts of earlier instruments provided poor results. MSPI images show interesting trends in AoLP images even when the DoLP is less than 2%. In this talk Ground-MSPI AoLP images are reported with respect to dependency on surface texture, surface orientation, albedo, and illumination conditions. Agreement with well-known principles of polarized light scattering are illustrated, and several special cases are described.
Dr. Meredith KUPINSKI
Associate Research Professor
College of Optical Sciences
University of Arizona
Tucson, USA
http://www.optics.arizona.edu/