Sub-percent Characterization and Polarimetric Performance Analysis of Commercial Micro-polarizer Array Detectors

arXiv (Cornell University)

Abstract

Polarization imaging can yield crucial information in multiple applications of remote sensing, such as characterization of clouds, aerosols, and the Aurora Borealis. Some applications require sub-percent polarimetric sensitivity and accuracy in determining the Stokes parameters, which can be a challenge to attain. In 2018, Sony released a low-cost CMOS-based imaging chip with integrated micro-polarizer array for general polarization measurements. We implement the calibration steps required for these Sony chips to reach sub-percent polarimetric accuracies. To analyze their performances, we have compared the characteristics of four different detector packages by three manufacturers housing either the monochromatic version or the RGB color variant. We present a comprehensive overview of the effects that these characteristics have on the polarimetric performance of the camera. They include dark noise, behavior over different gain settings, detector/pixel artifacts, and polarimetric effects determined by polarizer extinction ratios, polarizer orientations, and accuracy of polarimetric zero points due to differential pixel gains. In addition to calibrations using unpolarized light and fully linearly polarized light, we assess the polarimetric sensitivity within a tilting and rotating glass-plate set-up. We discuss the benefits of adding a rotating half-wave plate as an additional temporal modulator to generically mitigate some of the detector effects, and achieve better polarimetric sensitivity/accuracy albeit at the expense of lower temporal resolution. We conclude by presenting and discussing the polarimetric limits to which we were able to calibrate the detector effects for practical purposes. By reaching a compound absolute polarimetric uncertainty of less than a percent, these very compact, low-cost detectors are enabled for a multitude of scientific goals.

Authors 7

1. Thijs A. Stockmans Aachen Leiden Observatory

   Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Observatory , Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513 , 2300 RA Leiden , The Netherlands

2. Naor Scheinowitz Aachen Leiden Observatory

   Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Observatory , Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513 , 2300 RA Leiden , The Netherlands

3. Erwoud van der Linden Aachen SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research

   Space Research Organisation Netherlands

   Affiliation as printed

   SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Niels Bohrweg 4 , 2333 CA Leiden , The Netherlands

4. Irina Malysheva Aachen SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research

   Space Research Organisation Netherlands

   Affiliation as printed

   SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Niels Bohrweg 4 , 2333 CA Leiden , The Netherlands

5. Kira N. Strelow Aachen Leiden Observatory

   Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Observatory , Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513 , 2300 RA Leiden , The Netherlands

6. Martijn Smit Aachen SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research

   Space Research Organisation Netherlands

   Affiliation as printed

   SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Niels Bohrweg 4 , 2333 CA Leiden , The Netherlands

7. Frans Snik Aachen Leiden Observatory

   Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Observatory , Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513 , 2300 RA Leiden , The Netherlands