On the measurement of polarization parameters of optical radar signals

Abstract

The polarization parameters of optical radar signals, which are characterized by parameters resulting from entropy of partially polarized light waves, are discussed. It is shown that the properties of the signal can be represented by a factor which is a ratio of entropies, and by two parameters of the polarization ellipse. The proposed method using quasilinearly polarized signals of He-Ne laser at 632.8 nm was applied to the investigations of a number of typical materials.