The work done in this study supported the development of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Polarimetric Multifunction Imaging Platform. Polarimetry can be used for identification, classification, and analysis of a material’s optical properties using polarization as the key discriminator. Polarimetry has great potential to be used in space applications because it has the useful ability to interrogate objects at great distance using relatively low power. In a polarimetric system, the determination of material properties are not dependent upon the magnitude of the returned signal, rather the transformation of the polarization that the incident light has undergone after interacting with the object. The presented system is an automated full polarimetric system utilizing liquid crystal devices which can be controlled electronically with no moving parts.
In this study several materials typically used in space applications were tested for their full Mueller Matrix at varying aspect angles. Additionally, Mueller Matrices were decomposed into constituent matrices representing key material characteristics and several figures-of-merit were calculated. The outcome of this study provides a wealth of information in terms of system design, calibration techniques, testing, and applying remote measuring methodologies.