Open AccessDesign of channeled partial Mueller matrix polarimeters
Author(s) -
Andrey Alenin,
J. Scott Tyo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the optical society of america. a, optics, image science, and vision./journal of the optical society of america. a, online
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.803
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1520-8532
pISSN - 1084-7529
DOI - 10.1364/josaa.33.001060
Subject(s) - mueller calculus , optics , materials science , physics , polarimetry , scattering
In this paper, we introduce a novel class of systems called channeled partial Mueller matrix polarimeters (c-pMMPs). Their analysis benefits greatly by drawing from the concepts of generalized construction of channeled polarimeters as described by the modulation matrix. The modulation matrix resembles that of the data reduction method of a conventional polarimeter, but instead of using Mueller vectors as the bases, attention is focused on the Fourier properties of the measurement conditions. By leveraging the understanding of the measurement's structure, its decomposition can be manipulated to reveal noise resilience and information about the polarimeter's ability to measure the aspect of polarization that are important for any given task. We demonstrate the theory with a numerical optimization that designs c-pMMPs for the task of monitoring the damage state of a material as presented earlier by Hoover and Tyo [Appl. Opt.46, 8364 (2007)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.46.008364]. We select several example systems that produce a fewer-than-full-system number of channels yet retain the ability to discriminate objects of interest. Their respective trade-offs are discussed.