Measurement of the radiometric and polarization characteristics of a microgrid polarizer infrared focal plane array

Remote sensing applications make use of the optical polarization characteristics of a scene to enhance target detection and discrimination. Imaging polarimeters typically utilize polarizing arrays located in front of a focal plane array as a means of extracting polarization information from the optical scene. Over the last few years, technology development efforts have resulted in FPAs that integrate the polarizer with the infrared focal plane array (FPA). This paper will report on the radiometric and polarization characterization of a micro-grid polarizer FPA from DRS Infrared Technologies, L.P. (DRS). These measurements were performed to evaluate the radiometric performance and the polarization characteristics of the FPA.