Linear Polarization Filters Research Articles

Twisted hyperbolic van der Waals crystals for chip-scale full Stokes mid-infrared polarization detection

Abstract Investigating the polarization properties of light in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectrum is crucial for molecular sensing, biomedical diagnostics, and IR imaging system technologies. Traditional methods, limited by bulky size and complicated fabrication process, utilize large rotating optics for full Stokes polarization detection, impeding miniaturization and accuracy. Naturally occurring hyperbolic van der Waals (vdW) material based devices can address these challenges due to their lithography-free fabrication, ease of integration with chip-scale platforms and room-temperature operation. This study designs a chip-integrated polarimeter by performing multi-objective optimization for efficient exploration of the design parameter space. The spatial division measurement scheme used incorporates six precisely designed linear and circular polarization filters, achieving high extinction ratios exceeding 30 dB and transmittance surpassing 50%, with fabrication tolerance of film thickness up to 100 nm. The proposed device represents a significant advancement in polarimetric detection, providing a compact, cost-effective solution and opens new avenues for on-chip mid-IR polarimetric detection in next-generation ultra-compact optical systems.

Large-area ultracompact pixelated aluminum-wire-grid-based metamaterials for Vis-NIR full-Stokes polarization imaging

The study of pixelated metamaterials that integrate both the functions of linear and circular polarization filters is rapidly growing due to the need for full-Stokes polarization imaging. However, there is a lack of large-area, ultracompact pixelated full-Stokes metamaterials with excellent performance, especially circular polarization filters with a high extinction ratio, a broad operating bandwidth, and a low-cost, high-quality, efficient manufacturing process, which limits the practical applications of pixelated full-Stokes metamaterials. In this study, we propose a universal design and fabrication scheme for large-area, ultracompact pixelated aluminum wire-grid-based metamaterials used in Vis-NIR full-Stokes polarization imaging. The aluminum wire-grid was designed as a linear polarization filter with an average linear polarization extinction ratio of 36,000 and a circular polarization filter with an average circular polarization extinction ratio of 110 in Vis-NIR. A large-area, ultracompact 320×320 pixelated aluminum wire-grid-based full-Stokes metamaterial was fabricated using nanoimprint lithography and nano transfer printing with the advantages of low cost and high efficiency. This metamaterial was used to achieve full-Stokes polarization imaging with errors within 8.77%, 12.58%, 14.04%, and 25.96% for Stokes parameters S0, S1, S2, and S3, respectively. The inversion errors of the compensated Stokes parameters can be reduced to 0.21%, 0.21%, 0.42%, and 1.96%, respectively.

High-performance full-Stokes polarization detection at exceptional point in a non-Hermitian metasurface

Polarization and its detection have attracted tremendous attention due to the rich information it provides and the practical applications it enables. Here, we propose a high-performance reflective pixelated metasurface with full-Stokes detection in the visible wavelength, which integrates both linear polarization (LP) and circular polarization (CP) filters on one platform. The system achieves a high extinction ratio for CP incidence in a non-Hermitian system, generated from the exceptional point (EP) effect. With integrated LP filters, full-Stokes detection can be obtained with accuracy and efficiency in real time. The EP-based innovation also promises other practical applications, such as polarization imaging technologies and optical computing.

The use of polarized light in the zonal orientation of the sandhopper Talitrus saltator (Montagu)

It is well known that the celestial polarization is used as a compass cue by many species of insects and crustaceans. Although it has been shown that the sandhopper Talitrus saltator perceives polarized light and possesses an arrangement of the rhabdomeres that could allow e-vector interpretation and utilization, T. saltator does not use the e-vector of the skylight polarization as a compass cue when making excursions along the sea–land axis of sandy shores. We performed tests in confined conditions to clarify if skylight polarization is somehow involved in the zonal recovery of T. saltator. We observed the directional responses of sandhoppers in a transparent bowl under an artificial sky (an opaline Plexiglas dome). The bowl was covered by a blue gelatin filter with a grey filter (control condition) and a linear polarizing filter (experimental conditions) positioned under the blue one in such a way as to occupy half of the upper surface of the Plexiglas bowl so as to create a linear polarization gradient. Our experiments confirm that T. saltator perceives polarized light and highlight that this visual capability determines the perception, or perhaps the increase, of the radiance and/or spectral gradient and their use as compass cues in the zonal orientation. Moreover, our findings confirm that the radiance gradient is used as a chronometric compass orienting reference in the absence of other celestial orienting cues.

Real-time and high-transmission middle-infrared optical imaging system based on a pixel-wise metasurface micro-polarization array

Real-time polarization medium-wave infrared (MIR) optical imaging systems enable the acquisition of infrared and polarization information for a target. At present, real-time polarization MIR devices face the following problems: poor real-time performance, low transmission and high requirements for fabrication and integration. Herein, we aim to improve the performance of real-time polarization imaging systems in the MIR waveband and solve the above-mentioned defects. Therefore, we propose a MIR polarization imaging system to achieve real-time polarization-modulated imaging with high transmission as well as improved performance based on a pixel-wise metasurface micro-polarization array (PMMPA). The PMMPA element comprises several linear polarization (LP) filters with different polarization angles. The optimization results demonstrate that the transmittance of the center field of view for the LP filters is up to 77% at a wavelength of 4.0 μm and an extinction ratio of 88 dB. In addition, a near-diffraction-limited real-time MIR imaging optical system is designed with a field of view of 5° and an F-number of 2. The simulation results show that an MIR polarization imaging system with excellent real-time performance and high transmission is achieved by using the optimized PMMPA element. Therefore, the method is compatible with the available optical system design technologies and provides a way to realize real-time polarization imaging in MIR wavebands.

HIGH RESOLUTION SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE OBJECTS USING SHAPE FROM POLARIZATION METHOD

Abstract. Nowadays, three-dimensional reconstruction is used in various fields like computer vision, computer graphics, mixed reality and digital twin. The three- dimensional reconstruction of cultural heritage objects is one of the most important applications in this area which is usually accomplished by close range photogrammetry. The problem here is that the images are often noisy, and the dense image matching method has significant limitations to reconstruct the geometric details of cultural heritage objects in practice. Therefore, displaying high-level details in three-dimensional models, especially for cultural heritage objects, is a severe challenge in this field. In this paper, the shape from polarization method has been investigated, a passive method with no drawbacks of active methods. In this method, the resolution of the depth maps can be dramatically increased using the information obtained from the polarization light by rotating a linear polarizing filter in front of a digital camera. Through these polarized images, the surface details of the object can be reconstructed locally with high accuracy. The fusion of polarization and photogrammetric methods is an appropriate solution for achieving high resolution three-dimensional reconstruction. The surface reconstruction assessments have been performed visually and quantitatively. The evaluations showed that the proposed method could significantly reconstruct the surfaces' details in the three-dimensional model compared to the photogrammetric method with 10 times higher depth resolution.

Specular Reflection Suppression through the Adjustment of Linear Polarization for Tumor Diagnosis Using Fluorescein Sodium.

In tumor surgery, the edges of the tumor can be visually observed using a fluorescent contrast agent and a fluorescent imaging device. By distinguishing it from normal tissues and blood vessels, it is possible to objectively judge the extent of resection while visually observing it during surgery, and it guarantees safe tumor resection based on more information. However, the main problem of such an imaging device is the specular reflection phenomenon. If specular reflection overlaps with important lesion locations, they are a major factor leading to diagnostic errors. Here, we propose a method to reduce specular reflection that occurs during tumor diagnosis using a linear polarization filter and fluorescent contrast agent. To confirm the effect of removing specular reflection, a self-made fluorescein sodium vial phantom was used, and the reliability of the results was increased using a large animal (pig) test. As a result of the experiment, it was possible to obtain an image in which specular reflection was removed by controlling the rotation angle of the filter by 90° and 270°, and the same results were confirmed in the phantom experiment and the animal experiment.

Removal of Specular Reflection Using Angle Adjustment of Linear Polarized Filter in Medical Imaging Diagnosis.

The biggest problem in imaging medicine is the occurrence of light reflection in the imaging process for lesion diagnosis. The formation of light reflection obscures the diagnostic field of the lesion and interferes with the correct diagnosis of the observer. The existing method has the inconvenience of performing a diagnosis in a state in which light reflection is suppressed by adjusting the direction angle of the camera. This paper proposes a method for rotating a linear polarization filter to remove light reflection in a diagnostic imaging camera. Vertical polarization and horizontal polarization are controlled through the rotation of the filter, and the polarization is adjusted to horizontal polarization. The rotation angle of the filter for horizontal polarization control will be 90°, and the vertical and horizontal polarization waves induce a 90° difference from each other. In this study, light reflection can be effectively removed during the imaging process, and light reflection removal can secure the field of view of the lesion. The removal of light reflection can help the observer’s accurate diagnosis, and these results are expected to be highly reliable and commercialized for direct application in the field of diagnostic medicine.

Calibration, sensitivity analysis, and demonstration of a basic polarimeter for artificial satellite observations

The Department of Physics at the United States Air Force Academy has a DFM Engineering f/8.2, 16-inch telescope outfitted with a 9-position filter wheel populated with broadband photometric filters (Johnson-Cousins B, V, R, and a blue-blocking exoplanet filter) and a 100 lines per millimeter diffraction grating. As part of their senior capstone project, physics cadets developed a simple, four-channel linear Stokes polarimeter by populating the open slots in the filter wheel with linear polarization filters oriented at 0°, 45°, 90°, and 135° relative to the vertical axis of the imaging camera. Size and weight restrictions on the back of the telescope prohibited the use of more elaborate polarimeters. They also developed the process and procedures to characterize the effect of the telescope optical elements on the polarization of incident light. Using an unpolarized uniform flat light source, along with a polarized film rotated at 10° increments from 0° to 180°, the intensity of the light source was measured as it passed through the entire optical system including the previously mentioned linear polarized filters. The measured intensities were fitted to Malus Law using a least squares method. From this fit, a modified Mueller matrix was created that describes how the telescope’s optical elements, including the polarizing filters, alter the incident light measured by the telescope’s camera. To relate the measured intensities of light to the Stokes parameters of the light reflected from a satellite, a calibration matrix was computed using a pseudoinverse of the modified Mueller matrix. The sensitivity of the pseudoinverse process was analyzed by perturbing input data and measuring the root mean square (RMS) error between the perturbed and ideal matrices. This process for employing the pseudoinverse introduced minimal error into the system as the RMS error for the calibration matrix was within an acceptable error range. The calibration matrix was applied to observations of three different satellites, AMC-15, DirecTV-10, and DirecTV-14, resulting in their measured Stokes parameters, Degree of Linear Polarization, and Angle of Linear Polarization.

Spatial phase-shifting profilometry by use of polarization for measuring 3D shapes of metal objects.

In this paper, we present a polarization spatial phase-shifting method for fringe projection profilometry. It enables us to measure the three-dimensional shape of a metal object in a fast way requiring only a single-shot implementation. With this method, a couple of projectors are equipped, in front of their lens, with linear polarization filters having orthogonal polarization directions, so that they can simultaneously cast two sinusoidal fringe patterns having different phase shifts onto the measured metal surfaces without mixture. To register the two projected patterns, we suggest a fringe alignment method based on the epipolar geometry between the projectors. By taking advantage of the property of metal surfaces in maintaining polarization state of incident light, the deformed fringe patterns on the measured surfaces are captured by using two coaxially-arranged polarization cameras. As a result, the fringe phases are calculated by using a two-step phase-shifting algorithm and further the 3D shapes of the measured surfaces are reconstructed. Experimental results demonstrate the proposed method to be valid and efficient in measuring metal objects.

High efficiency all-dielectric pixelated metasurface for near-infrared full-Stokes polarization detection

Pixelated metasurfaces integrating both the functions of linear polarization and circular polarization filters on a single platform can achieve full-Stokes polarization detection. At present, the pixelated full-Stokes metasurfaces mainly face the following problems: low transmission, low circular dichroism (CD) of circular polarization filters, and high requirements in fabrication and integration. Herein, we propose high performance ultracompact all-dielectric pixelated full-Stokes metasurfaces in the near-infrared band based on silicon-on-insulator, which is compatible with the available semiconductor industry technologies. Circular polarization filters with high CD are achieved by using simple two-dimensional chiral structures, which can be easily integrated with the linear polarization filters on a single chip. In addition, the dielectric materials have higher transmission than metal materials with intrinsic absorption. We experimentally demonstrated the circular polarization filter with maximum CD up to 70% at a wavelength of 1.6 μm and average transmission efficiency above 80% from 1.48 μm to 1.6 μm. Therefore, our design is highly desirable for many applications, such as target detection, clinical diagnosis, and polarimetric imaging and sensing.

Polarization resolving and imaging with a single-photon sensitive superconducting nanowire array.

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have attracted remarkable interest for visible and near-infrared single-photon detection due to their outstanding performance. However, conventional SNSPDs are generally used as binary photon-counting detectors. Another important characteristic of light, i.e., polarization, which can provide additional information of the object, has not been resolved using the standalone SNSPD. In this work, we present a first prototype of the polarimeter based on a four-pixel superconducting nanowire array, capable of resolving the polarization state of linearly-polarized light at the single-photon level. The detector array design is based on a division of focal plane configuration in which the orientation of each nanowire division (pixel) is offset by 45°. Each single nanowire pixel operates as a combination of a photon detector and almost linear polarization filter, with an average polarization extinction ratio of ∼10. The total system detection efficiency of the array is ∼1% at a total dark count rate of 680 cps, with a timing jitter of 126 ps, when the detector array is free-space coupled and illuminated with 1550-nm photons. The mean errors of the measured angle of polarization and degree of linear polarization were about -3° and 0.12, respectively. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrated polarization imaging at low-light level using the proposed detector. Our results pave the way for the development of a single-photon sensitive, fast, and large-scale integrated polarization polarimeter or imager. Such detector may find promising application in photon-starved polarization resolving and imaging with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Spatial orientation of social caterpillars is influenced by polarized light.

Processionary caterpillars of Thaumetopoea pityocampa (in Europe) and Ochrogaster lunifer (in Australia) (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) form single files of larvae crawling head-to-tail when moving to feeding and pupation sites. We investigated if the processions are guided by polarization vision. The heading orientation of processions could be manipulated with linear polarizing filters held above the leading caterpillar. Exposure to changes in the angle of polarization around the caterpillars resulted in corresponding changes in heading angles. Anatomical analysis indicated specializations for polarization vision of stemma I in both species. Stemma I has a rhabdom with orthogonal and aligned microvilli, and an opaque and rugged surface, which are optimizations for skylight polarization vision, similar to the dorsal rim of adult insects. Stemmata II-VI have a smooth and shiny surface and lobed rhabdoms with non-orthogonal and non-aligned microvilli; they are thus optimized for general vision with minimal polarization sensitivity. Behavioural and anatomical evidence reveal that polarized light cues are important for larval orientation and can be robustly detected with a simple visual system.

Conditional generative adversarial network demosaicing strategy for division of focal plane polarimeters.

Division of focal plane (DoFP), or integrated microgrid polarimeters, typically consist of a 2 × 2 mosaic of linear polarization filters overlaid upon a focal plane array sensor and obtain temporally synchronized polarized intensity measurements across a scene, similar in concept to a Bayer color filter array camera. However, the resulting estimated polarimetric images suffer a loss in resolution and can be plagued by aliasing due to the spatially-modulated microgrid measurement strategy. Demosaicing strategies have been proposed that attempt to minimize these effects, but result in some level of residual artifacts. In this work we propose a conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) approach to the microgrid demosaicing problem. We evaluate the performance of our approach against full-resolution division-of-time polarimeter data as well as compare against both traditional and recent microgrid demosaicing methods. We apply these demosaicing strategies to data from both real and simulated visible microgrid imagery and provide an objective criteria for evaluating their performance. We demonstrate that the proposed cGAN approach results in estimated Stokes imagery that is comparable to full-resolution ground truth imagery from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.

Coronal Electron Densities Derived with Images Acquired during the 2017 August 21 Total Solar Eclipse

Abstract The total solar eclipse of 2017 August 21 was observed with a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera equipped with a linear polarizing filter. A method was developed to combine images acquired with 15 different exposure times (from 1/4000 s to 4 s), identifying in each pixel the best interval of detector linearity. The resulting mosaic image of the solar corona extends up to more than 5 solar radii, with a projected pixel size of 3.7 arcsec/pixel and an effective image resolution of 10.″2, as determined with visible α-Leo and ν-Leo stars. Image analysis shows that in the inner corona the intensity gradients are so steep that nearby pixels show a relative intensity difference of up to ∼10%; this implies that care must be taken when analyzing single exposures acquired with polarization cameras. Images acquired with two different orientations of the polarizer have been analyzed to derive the degree of linear polarization and the polarized brightness pB in the solar corona. After intercalibration with pB measurements by the K-Cor instrument on Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO), the data analysis provided the 2D coronal electron density distribution from 1.1 up to ∼3 solar radii. The absolute radiometric calibration was also performed with the full Sun image and with magnitudes of visible stars. The resulting absolute calibrations show a disagreement by a factor of ∼2 with respect to MLSO; interestingly, this is the same disagreement recently found with eclipse predictions provided by MHD numerical simulations.

Reconstructing Stokes parameters from non-uniform division-of-focal-plane modulation

Division-of-focal-plane modulation is a powerful technique for real-time polarization imaging. This technique, however, suffers from the non-uniformity of the performance of linear polarization filters and photodetectors. We study the Stokes parameters reconstruction from the division-of-focal-plane modulation in the presence of the non-uniformity. Two reconstruction methods, named as ordinary least-squares and smoothing regularization methods, are proposed. The performance of the proposed methods are evaluated through Fourier analysis, numerical simulations, and experiments. The results indicate that the proposed methods can effectively mitigate the reconstruction errors and artifacts caused by the non-uniformity, and therefore may further facilitate the practical application of the division-of-focal-plane technique.

Nature-inspired chiral metasurfaces for circular polarization detection and full-Stokes polarimetric measurements

The manipulation and characterization of light polarization states are essential for many applications in quantum communication and computing, spectroscopy, bioinspired navigation, and imaging. Chiral metamaterials and metasurfaces facilitate ultracompact devices for circularly polarized light generation, manipulation, and detection. Herein, we report bioinspired chiral metasurfaces with both strong chiral optical effects and low insertion loss. We experimentally demonstrated submicron-thick circularly polarized light filters with peak extinction ratios up to 35 and maximum transmission efficiencies close to 80% at near-infrared wavelengths (the best operational wavelengths can be engineered in the range of 1.3–1.6 µm). We also monolithically integrated the microscale circular polarization filters with linear polarization filters to perform full-Stokes polarimetric measurements of light with arbitrary polarization states. With the advantages of easy on-chip integration, ultracompact footprints, scalability, and broad wavelength coverage, our designs hold great promise for facilitating chip-integrated polarimeters and polarimetric imaging systems for quantum-based optical computing and information processing, circular dichroism spectroscopy, biomedical diagnosis, and remote sensing applications.

Chip-integrated plasmonic flat optics for mid-infrared full-Stokes polarization detection

Flat optics presents a new path to control the phase, amplitude, and polarization state of light with ultracompact devices. Here we demonstrate chip-integrated metasurface devices for polarization detection of mid-infrared light with arbitrary polarization states. Six high-performance microscale linear and circular polarization filters based on vertically stacked plasmonic metasurfaces (with total thickness <600 nm) are integrated on the same chip to obtain all four Stokes parameters of light with high accuracy. The device designs can be tailored to operate at any wavelength in the mid-infrared spectral region and are feasible for on-chip integration with mid-infrared (mid-IR) photodetectors and imager arrays. Our work will enable on-chip mid-IR polarimeters and polarimetric imaging systems, which are highly desirable for many applications, such as clinical diagnosis, target detection, and space exploration.

Individual selective rotation of the linear polarization of single light beam in a bundle.

An approach for aligning of linear polarized light beams with different wavelengths into a single beam with parallel linear polarization is presented and experimentally demonstrated. The main idea is based on the application of recently developed composite half-wave plates, working as linear polarization filters.

Measuring and Modeling the Polarized Upwelling Radiance Distribution in Clear and Coastal Waters

The upwelling spectral radiance distribution is polarized, and this polarization varies with the optical properties of the water body. Knowledge of the polarized, upwelling, bidirectional radiance distribution function (BRDF) is important for generating consistent, long-term data records for ocean color because the satellite sensors from which the data are derived are sensitive to polarization. In addition, various studies have indicated that measurement of the polarization of the radiance leaving the ocean can used to determine particle characteristics (Tonizzo et al., 2007; Ibrahim et al., 2016; Chami et al., 2001). Models for the unpolarized BRDF (Morel et al., 2002; Lee et al., 2011) have been validated (Voss et al., 2007; Gleason et al., 2012), but variations in the polarization of the upwelling radiance due to the sun angle, viewing geometry, dissolved material, and suspended particles have not been systematically documented. In this work, we simulated the upwelling radiance distribution using a Monte Carlo-based radiative transfer code and measured it using a set of fish-eye cameras with linear polarizing filters. The results of model-data comparisons from three field experiments in clear and turbid coastal conditions showed that the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) of the upwelling light field could be determined by the model with an absolute error of ±0.05 (or 5% when the DOLP was expressed in %). This agreement was achieved even with a fixed scattering Mueller matrix, but did require in situ measurements of the other inherent optical properties, e.g., scattering coefficient, absorption coefficient, etc. This underscores the difficulty that is likely to be encountered using the particle scattering Mueller matrix (as indicated through the remote measurement of the polarized radiance) to provide a signature relating to the properties of marine particles beyond the attenuation/absorption coefficient.