Variation of linear and circular polarization persistence for changing field of view and collection area in a forward scattering environment

John D. van der Laan; Jeremy B. Wright; David A. Scrymgeour; Shanalyn A. Kemme; Eustace L. Dereniak

doi:10.1117/12.2223958

4 May 2016 Variation of linear and circular polarization persistence for changing field of view and collection area in a forward scattering environment

John D. van der Laan, Jeremy B. Wright, David A. Scrymgeour, Shanalyn A. Kemme, Eustace L. Dereniak

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9853, Polarization: Measurement, Analysis, and Remote Sensing XII; 98530L (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2223958
Event: SPIE Commercial + Scientific Sensing and Imaging, 2016, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

We present experimental and simulation results for a laboratory-based forward-scattering environment, where 1 μm diameter polystyrene spheres are suspended in water to model the optical scattering properties of fog. Circular polarization maintains its degree of polarization better than linear polarization as the optical thickness of the scattering environment increases. Both simulation and experiment quantify circular polarization’s superior persistence, compared to that of linear polarization, and show that it is much less affected by variations in the field of view and collection area of the optical system. Our experimental environment’s lateral extent was physically finite, causing a significant difference between measured and simulated degree of polarization values for incident linearly polarized light, but not for circularly polarized light. Through simulation we demonstrate that circular polarization is less susceptible to the finite environmental extent as well as the collection optic’s limiting configuration.

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John D. van der Laan, Jeremy B. Wright, David A. Scrymgeour, Shanalyn A. Kemme, and Eustace L. Dereniak "Variation of linear and circular polarization persistence for changing field of view and collection area in a forward scattering environment", Proc. SPIE 9853, Polarization: Measurement, Analysis, and Remote Sensing XII, 98530L (4 May 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2223958

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