Imaging of polarimetric-phase object through scattering medium by phase shifting

Light propagating through a scattering medium generates a random field, which is also known as a speckle. The scattering process hinders the direct retrieval of the information encoded in the light based on the randomly fluctuating field. In this study, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for the imaging of polarimetric-phase objects hidden behind a scattering medium based on two-point intensity correlation and phase-shifting techniques. One advantage of proposed method is that it does not require mechanical rotation of polarization elements. The method exploits the relationship between the two-point intensity correlation of the spatially fluctuating random field in the observation plane and the structure of the polarized source in the scattering plane. The polarimetric phase of the source structure is determined by replacing the interference intensity in traditional phase shift formula with the Fourier transform of the cross-covariance of the intensity. The imaging of the polarimetric-phase object is demonstrated by comparing three different phase-shifting techniques. We also evaluated the performance of the proposed technique on an unstable platform as well as using dynamic diffusers, which is implemented by replacing the diffuser with a new one during each phase-shifting step. The results were compared with that obtained with a fixed diffuser on a vibration-isolation platform during the phase-shifting process. A good match is found among the three cases, thus confirming that the proposed intensity-correlation-based technique is a useful one and should be applicable with dynamic diffusers as well as in unstable environments.