Liquid Crystal Tunable Polarization Filters for Polarization Imaging

We report a new familiy of polarimetric imaging cameras based on tunable liquid crystal components. Our camera designs use a dual frequency liquid crystal tunable filter that rotates the polarization of incoming light, in front of a single linear polarizer. The unique features of this approach include fast switching speed, high transmission throughput, no mechanical moving parts, broad bandwidth, high contrast ratio, wide viewing angle, and compact/monolithic architecture. This paper discusses these tunable liquid crystal polarimetric imaging camera architectures (time division, amplitude division), the benefits of our design, the analysis of laboratory and field data, and the applicability of polarization signatures in imaging.