General State Contrast Imaging : an optimized polarimetric imaging modality insensitive to spatial intensity fluctuations

Guillaume Anna (1) , François Goudail (1) , Daniel Dolfi (2)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry / Scop
2 Thales Research and Technology [Palaiseau]

In active polarization imaging, one frequently needs to be insensitive to noninformative spatial intensity fluctuations. We investigate a way of solving this issue with general state contrast (GSC) imaging. It consists in acquiring two scalar polarimetric images with optimized illumination and analysis polarization states, then forming a ratio. We propose a method for maximizing the discrimination ability between a target and a background in GSC images by determining the optimal illumination and analysis states. A further advantage of this approach is to provide an objective way of quantifying the performance improvement obtained by increasing the number of degrees of freedom of a GSC imager. The efficiency of this approach is demonstrated on simulated and real-world images.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

Guillaume Anna, François Goudail, Daniel Dolfi. General State Contrast Imaging : an optimized polarimetric imaging modality insensitive to spatial intensity fluctuations. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 2012, 29 (6), pp.892-900. ⟨hal-00747189⟩