Topic
Polarimeter
About: Polarimeter is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3796 publications have been published within this topic receiving 44639 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
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Papers
TL;DR: The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) as mentioned in this paper is an Explorer-class mission to measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background.
Abstract: The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is a concept for an Explorer-class mission to measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background. The instrument consists of a polarizing Michelson interferometer configured as a nulling polarimeter to measure the difference spectrum between orthogonal linear polarizations from two co-aligned beams. Either input can view the sky or a temperature-controlled absolute reference blackbody calibrator. Rhe proposed instrument can map the absolute intensity and linear polarization (Stokes I, Q, and U parameters) over the full sky in 400 spectral channels spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). Multi-moded optics provide background-limited sensitivity using only 4 detectors, while the highly symmetric design and multiple signal modulations provide robust rejection of potential systematic errors. The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10..3 at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE data set can also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy.
870 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared theory and experimental results obtained with an imaging radar polarimeter employing two orthogonally polarized antennas, and proposed a new way of displaying the resulting scattering cross section as a function of polarization.
Abstract: Radar polarimetry theory is reviewed, and comparison between theory and experimental results obtained with an imaging radar polarimeter employing two orthogonally polarized antennas is made. Knowledge of the scattering matrix permits calculation of the scattering cross section of a scatterer for any transmit and receive polarization combination, and a new way of displaying the resulting scattering cross section as a function of polarization is introduced. Examples of polarization signatures are presented for several theoretical models of surface scattering, and these signatures are compared with experimentally measured polarization signatures. The coefficient of variation, derived from the polarization signature, may provide information regarding the amount of variation in scattering properties for a given area.
589 citations
TL;DR: All 16 elements of the Mueller matrix of an optical system (sample) can be encoded onto, hence can be retrieved from, a single detected signal using a class of photopolarimeters with modulated polarizing and analyzing optics.
Abstract: All 16 elements of the Mueller matrix of an optical system (sample) can be encoded onto, hence can be retrieved from, a single detected signal using a class of photopolarimeters with modulated polarizing and analyzing optics. The general theory of operation of such polarimeters is presented. We also propose a specific new photopolarimeter whose polarizing and analyzing optics are modulated by synchronously rotating two quarter-wave retarders at angular speeds ω and 5ω. When the light flux leaving such polarimeter is linearly detected, a periodic signal J=a0+∑n=112(an cos nωft+bn sin nωft) is generated, with fundamental frequency ωf = 2ω. From the Fourier amplitudes a0, an, bn, to be measured by performing a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of the signal ℐ, the 16 elements of the Mueller matrix are simply determined.
580 citations
TL;DR: The solar optical telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode aims to obtain vector magnetic fields on the Sun through precise spectropolarimetry of solar spectral lines with a spatial resolution of 0.2 -0.3 arcsec as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode aims to obtain vector magnetic fields on the Sun through precise spectropolarimetry of solar spectral lines with a spatial resolution of 0.2 – 0.3 arcsec. A photometric accuracy of 10−3 is achieved and, after the polarization calibration, any artificial polarization from crosstalk among Stokes parameters is required to be suppressed below the level of the statistical noise over the SOT’s field of view. This goal was achieved by the highly optimized design of the SOT as a polarimeter, extensive analyses and testing of optical elements, and an end-to-end calibration test of the entire system. In this paper we review both the approach adopted to realize the high-precision polarimeter of the SOT and its final polarization characteristics.
476 citations
TL;DR: A pair of thick birefringent retarders is incorporated into the spectroscopic polarimeter, so the generated channeled spectrum is composed of three quasi-cosinusoidal components carrying the information about the SOP of the light that is being measured.
Abstract: We describe a novel method for the spectroscopic measurement of the state of polarization (SOP) of light. A pair of thick birefringent retarders is incorporated into the spectroscopic polarimeter, so the generated channeled spectrum is composed of three quasi-cosinusoidal components carrying the information about the SOP of the light that is being measured. Fourier inversion of the channeled spectrum provides significant parameters for determination of the spectrally resolved Stokes parameters of light. No mechanically movable components for polarization control or active devices for polarization modulation are used, and all the Stokes parameters can be determined at once from only the single spectrum. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by the generation of elliptically polarized light whose SOP varies with wave number.
452 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 |
| 2025 | 64 |
| 2024 | 108 |
| 2023 | 157 |
| 2022 | 433 |
| 2021 | 103 |