Polarization calibration assessment for a broadband imaging polarimeter based on a division of aperture architecture

This article intends to provide all the experimental insights and analyze the best polarimetric calibration method for a division of aperture polarimetric imager considering the different implications it has on the experimental set-up and its performance. Polarimetric cameras require careful calibration for the correct measurement of polarization information. The calibration methods are introduced, intermediate results are presented, and the ability of the set-up to estimate Stokes vectors and Mueller matrices of the samples in passive and active imaging modes is evaluated. Polarization information recovery achieves accuracy errors below the 10% for all polarization modes when the Data Reduction Matrix or the Eigenvalue Calibration Method are used. Such performance, however, degrades significantly when using the Polarizer Calibration Method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time such a detailed comparison of calibration methods is presented in the literature, and it is also the first time the Polarizer Calibration Method is applied to a division of aperture polarimeter.

Automated summary

This article aims to provide experimental insights and analyze the best polarimetric calibration method for a division of aperture polarimetric imager considering its implications on the experimental set-up and performance. The calibration methods are introduced, intermediate results are presented, and the ability of the set-up to estimate polarization information is evaluated. Accuracy errors below 10% are achieved for all polarization modes when using the Data Reduction Matrix or the Eigenvalue Calibration Method, but degrade significantly with the Polarizer Calibration Method. This is the first detailed comparison of calibration methods in the literature and the first application of the Polarizer Calibration Method to a division of aperture polarimeter.