Open AccessTarget detection in turbid medium using polarization-based range-gated technology
Author(s) -
Jun Guan,
Jingtao Zhu
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.21.014152
Subject(s) - optics , polarization (electrochemistry) , superposition principle , physics , photon , scattering , chemistry , quantum mechanics
Range-gated technology is well known for its good reliability, large field of view (FOV) and low cost in target detection through scattering or turbid medium. However, the tail-gating technology suffers from low signal-to-noise ratio in high turbidity levels due to superposition of photons multiply scattered from the medium and that reflected from the target. In this paper, polarization properties of multiply scattered photons emerging from the turbid medium are studied. Results demonstrate that diffusive photons are almost completely depolarized with no diattenuation and retardance. We combined the tail-gated technology with polarization detection method to effectively image in high level of turbidity. This approach showed about two times enhancement in image contrast as compared with the conventional range-gated technology.