Described is the development of a multispectral image labeling system with emphasis on Unmanned Ground Vehicles(UGVs). UGVs operating in unstructured environments face significant problems detecting viable paths when LIDAR is the sole source for perception. Promising advances in computer vision and machine learning has shown that multispectral imagery can be effective at detecting materials in unstructured environments [1][2][3][4][5][6]. This thesis seeks to extend previous work[6][7] by performing pixel level classification with multispectral features and texture. First the images are spatially registered to create a multispectral image cube. Visual, near infrared, shortwave infrared, and visible/near infrared polarimetric data are considered. The aligned images are then used to extract features which are fed to machine learning algorithms. The class list includes common materials present in rural and urban scenes such as vehicles, standing water, various forms of vegetation, and concrete. Experiments are conducted to explore the data requirement for a desired performance and the selection of a hyper-parameter for the textural features. A complete system is demonstrated, progressing from the data collection and labeling to the analysis of the classifier performance. / Master of Science

Les phénomènes de diffusion cohérente non-linéaire ont été récemment proposés en alternatives à la fluorescence comme processus de marquage en microscopie multiphotonique. Les matériaux couramment appliqués dans ce contexte buttent toutefois sur une limite inférieure en taille déterminée par le seuil de détection de signaux faibles en optique non-linéaire. Aucun des efforts récents en détection en génération de second-harmonique (GSH), qui est le processus non-linéaire d’ordre le plus bas, n’a permis de descendre à ce jour au-dessous d’une barrière en taille de 40nm même en ayant recours aux techniques de détection les plus sensibles telles que le comptage de photons uniques. Les nanoparticules (NPs) restent ainsi dans la famille des nano-diffuseurs de “grande“ taille. Il apparaît toutefois possible de déplacer de façon significative cette limite inférieure vers les plus petites tailles en substituant aux isolants diélectriques ou aux semi-conducteurs à grands gaps des particules quantiques (PQs) à base de semi-conducteurs à gaps directs.Dans ce travail, un nouveau type de nanosondes hautement non-linéaires a été conçu et développé de façon à franchir cette barrière de taille minimale pour atteindre l’échelle de nanoparticules uniques. Nous considérons ainsi l’excitation résonnante à deux photons de nanoparticules quantiques individuelles à base de CdTe (de la famille des “zinc-blendes”) d’un diamètre d’environ 12.5nm, qui fournissent une émission cohérente efficace par GSH jusqu’à hauteur de 105 comptages de photons par seconde. Elles présentent de plus l’avantage d’une remarquable sensibilité à l’orientation de leur réseau cristallin octupolaire.De plus, il a été démontré que les effets de confinement quantique déterminent fortement les caractéristiques de la susceptibilité non-linéaire du second-ordre χ(2). La caractérisation quantitative du χ(2) des PQs, en particulier leur dispersion spectrale et leur dépendance en taille est menée par spectroscopie de particules uniques ainsi qu’en moyenne d’ensemble par diffusion Hyper-Rayleigh (HRS). Nous fournissons en particulier la preuve que sous certaines conditions, le χ(2) de structures à base de semi-conducteurs en mode de confinement quantique peut très largement dépasser sa valeur en milieu massif. De plus, un nouveau type de PQs hybridant des semi-conducteurs en géométries de type “bâtonnet sur sphère” (BS) a été développé sur la base de composantes cristallines de symétries différentes, afin d’augmenter leur non-linéarité quadratique effective, tout en maintenant leur taille dans un régime proche d’un fort confinement quantique. Le nouveau tenseur hybride complexe χ(2) est analysé en terme d’interférence des susceptibilités constitutives, en prenant en compte les différentes formes et symétries associées aux composantes octupolaires et dipolaires.Il en résulte pour de telles structures une exaltation significative du χ(2), qui excède celle des PQs à constituant unique compte tenu du couplage entre matériaux non-linéaires et d’un temps de décohérence plus long, que nous attribuons à un effet de separation de charge photo-induit. / Nonlinear coherent scattering phenomena from single nanoparticles have been recently proposed as alternative processes for fluorescence in multiphoton microscopy staining. Commonly applied nanoscale materials, however, have reached a certain limit in size dependent detection efficiency of weak nonlinear optical signals. None of the recent efforts in detection of second-harmonic generation (SHG), the lowest order nonlinear process, have been able to cross a ~40 nm size barrier for nanoparticles (NPs), thus remaining at the level of “large” nanoscatterers, even when resorting to the most sensitive detection techniques such as single-photon counting technology. As we realize now, this size limitation can be significantly lowered when replacing dielectric insulators or wide gap semiconductors by direct-gap semiconducting quantum dots (QDs). Herein, a new type of highly nonlinear nanoprobes is engineered in order to surpass above mentioned size barrier at the single nanoparticle scale. We consider two-photon resonant excitation in individual zinc-blende CdTe QDs of about 12.5 nm diameter, which provide efficient coherent SHG radiation, as high as 105 Hz, furthermore exhibiting remarkable sensitivity to spatial orientation of their octupolar crystalline lattice. Moreover, quantum confinement effects have been found to strongly contribute to the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ(2) features. Quantitative characterization of the χ(2) of QDs by way of their spectral dispersion and size dependence is therefore undertaken by single particle spectroscopy and ensemble Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering (HRS) studies. We prove that under appropriate conditions, χ(2) of quantum confined semiconducting structures can significantly exceed that of bulk. Furthermore, a novel type of semiconducting hybrid rod-on-dot (RD) QDs is developed by building up on crystalline moieties of different symmetries, in order to increase their effective quadratic nonlinearity while maintaining their size close to a strong quantum confinement regime. The new complex hybrid χ(2) tensor is analyzed by interfering the susceptibilities from each component, considering different shape and point group symmetries associated to octupolar and dipolar crystalline structures. Significant SHG enhancement is consequently observed, exceeding that of mono-compound QDs, due to a coupling between two nonlinear materials and slower decoherence, which we attribute to the induced spatial charge separation upon photoexcitation.

Le cancer est une pathologie que l’on se doit de détecter le plus tôt possible si l’on veut accroître les chances de guérison. Ces travaux étudient l’apport de la signature polarimétrique à la caractérisation et l’identification des tissus cancéreux. Il s’agit d’extraire des images multidimensionnelles de polarisation des informations physiques qui caractérisent les constituants de l’objet bien au-delà de l’information visuelle des images d’intensité. Durant cette thèse, un imageur de Mueller, POLARIS, a pu être mis en place ainsi que les outils de traitement et de calibration adaptés. Une méthode de segmentation d’images de Mueller en condition d’éclairement non homogène a été proposée. Une première base d’images multi-spectrales polarimétriques de tissus sains et pathogènes chez la souris a été constituée. Une approche originale a enfin été proposée en se basant sur les forêts aléatoires pour extraire parmi un ensemble de paramètres physiques un jeu de paramètres permettant de différencier les zones saines des zones pathogènes aux différentes longueurs d’ondes de travail. Une comparaison est proposée avec la littérature et permet de valider l’approche. / Cancer is a pathology that must be detected as soon as possible in order to increase the chances of recovery. These studies investigate the contribution of polarimetric signature to the characterization and identification of cancerous tissues. It is a matter of extracting multidimensional polarization images of the physical information which characterize the constituents of the object well beyond the visual information of the intensity images. During this thesis, a Mueller imager, POLARIS, was set up, as well as the appropriate processing and calibration tools. A method of Mueller images segmentation in non-homogeneous illumination has been proposed. A first database of polarimetric multi-spectral images of healthy and pathogenic tissues in mice was constructed. An original approach was finally proposed based on random forests to extract from a set of physical parameters a set of parameters allowing to differentiate the healthy zones from the pathogenic zones at different working wavelengths. A comparison is proposed with the literature and validates the approach.

Polarization specific measurements are advancing the capabilities of scientific instruments looking for ever smaller effects and material parameters. For example, the magneto-optical nonlinear Faraday effect can be used to characterize various electric and magnetic polarizability parameters of an individual molecule. Another major application is detection of desired particles in a highly scattering environment, the physical effect of which has been extensively researched, and is being overcome by using time-gated and polarization techniques. The polarimeter sensitivity is limited by the extinction-ratio obtained from polarizers. Of available polarizer materials, naturally occurring Calcite crystals provide the best extinction ratios because of their good optical homogeneity and high birefringence. However, there is a need for polarization determination with higher sensitivities, and thus a necessity to find better polarizing materials and methods. I developed a next-generation polarimeter in an attempt to sensitively detect the second-order Faraday effect, along with a substance s chirality and Verdet constant. Also, I developed a device uniquely able to sensitively detect chiral signatures in the presence of massive depolarizing scattering. In addition, I begun developing a novel type of polarimeter based on the highly-polarization-sensitive nonlinear-optical process of harmonic generation, whose required crystals can be grown with extremely high quality.

Diese (Doktor)arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Radar-Polarimetrie, insbesondere mit der Untersuchung der Eigenschaften von polarimetrischen Variablen, die potenziellen Nutzen für die Radar-Meteorologie haben. Für den Einsatz in Dual-Polarisations-Radargeräten wird der Polarisationsgrad analysiert. Diese Variable wird in künftigen operationellen Radargeräten verfügbar sein. Der Polarisationsgrad hängt vom transmittierten Polarisationszustand und in weiterer Folge auch vom Betriebsmodus des Radargeräts ab. Der Hauptbetriebsmodus von operationellen Radargeräten sendet und empfängt gleichzeitig sowohl die horizontale als auch die vertikale Komponente. Der sekundäre Betriebsmodus sendet und empfängt simultan die horizontal polarisierte Komponente. In dieser Arbeit werden beide Polarisationsgrade untersucht. Da operationelle Systeme derzeit auf den Dual-Polarisationsmodus aufgerüstet werden, sollte künftig die Anwendungsmöglichkeiten von vollpolarimetrischen Wetterradarsystemen untersucht werden. Aus allen Variablen, die in diesem Betriebsmodus zur Verfügung stehen, wurde die Entropie (des gemessen Objektes) ausgewählt und wegen seiner engen Beziehung zum Polarisationsgrad näher untersucht. / The present doctoral thesis deals with radar polarimetry, namely with the investigation of properties of polarimetric variables potentially useful in radar meteorology. For use with dual-polarization radars, the degree of polarization is analyzed. This variable is available to planned operational radars. The degree of polarization is dependent on transmit polarization state and, consequently, it is dependent on the radar system operating mode. The primary operating mode of operational radars consists in simultaneous transmission and simultaneous receive of both horizontal and vertical components. The secondary operating mode consists of horizontal transmission and simultaneous receive. Both degrees of polarization are investigated in this thesis. Also, as operational systems are being updated to dual-polarization, research should start investigating the capabilities of fully polarimetric weather radar systems. Among the numerous variables available from this operating mode, the target entropy was chosen for investigation, also because of its close relation to the degree of polarization

Nonlinear coherent scattering phenomena from single nanoparticles have been recently proposed as alternative processes for fluorescence in multiphoton microscopy staining. Commonly applied nanoscale materials, however, have reached a certain limit in size dependent detection efficiency of weak nonlinear optical signals. None of the recent efforts in detection of second-harmonic generation (SHG), the lowest order nonlinear process, have been able to cross a ~40 nm size barrier for nanoparticles (NPs), thus remaining at the level of "large" nanoscatterers, even when resorting to the most sensitive detection techniques such as single-photon counting technology. As we realize now, this size limitation can be significantly lowered when replacing dielectric insulators or wide gap semiconductors by direct-gap semiconducting quantum dots (QDs). Herein, a new type of highly nonlinear nanoprobes is engineered in order to surpass above mentioned size barrier at the single nanoparticle scale. We consider two-photon resonant excitation in individual zinc-blende CdTe QDs of about 12.5 nm diameter, which provide efficient coherent SHG radiation, as high as 105 Hz, furthermore exhibiting remarkable sensitivity to spatial orientation of their octupolar crystalline lattice. Moreover, quantum confinement effects have been found to strongly contribute to the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ(2) features. Quantitative characterization of the χ(2) of QDs by way of their spectral dispersion and size dependence is therefore undertaken by single particle spectroscopy and ensemble Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering (HRS) studies. We prove that under appropriate conditions, χ(2) of quantum confined semiconducting structures can significantly exceed that of bulk. Furthermore, a novel type of semiconducting hybrid rod-on-dot (RD) QDs is developed by building up on crystalline moieties of different symmetries, in order to increase their effective quadratic nonlinearity while maintaining their size close to a strong quantum confinement regime. The new complex hybrid χ(2) tensor is analyzed by interfering the susceptibilities from each component, considering different shape and point group symmetries associated to octupolar and dipolar crystalline structures. Significant SHG enhancement is consequently observed, exceeding that of mono-compound QDs, due to a coupling between two nonlinear materials and slower decoherence, which we attribute to the induced spatial charge separation upon photoexcitation.

Ground-based weather radars provide information on the temporal evolution and the spatial distribution of precipitation on a macroscopic scale over a large area. However, the echoes measured by weather radars are always a superposition of forward and backward scattering effects which complicates their interpretation. The use of polarisation diversity enhances the number of independent observables measured simultaneously. This allows an effective separation of forward and backward scattering effects. Furthermore, it extends the capability of weather radars to retrieve also microphysical information about the precipitation. The dissertation at hand introduces new aspects in the field of polarimetric, ground-based, monostatic weather radars at S-, C-, and X-band. Relations are provided to change the polarisation basis of reflectivities. A fully polarimetric weather radar measurement at circular polarisation basis is analysed. Methods to check operationally the polarimetric calibration of weather radars operating at circular polarisation basis are introduced. Moreover, attenuation correction methods for weather radar measurements at linear horizontal / vertical polarisation basis are compared to each other, and the robustly working methods are identified. / Bodengebundene Wetterradare bieten Informationen über die zeitliche Entwicklung und die räumliche Verteilung von Niederschlag in einer makroskopischen Skala über eine große Fläche. Die Interpretation der Wetterradarechos wird erschwert, da sie sich aus einer Überlagerung von Vorwärts- und Rückwärtsstreueffekten ergeben. Die Anzahl der unabhängigen Wetterradarmessgrößen kann durch den Einsatz von Polarisationsdiversität erhöht werden. Dies ermöglicht eine effektive Trennung von Vorwärts- und Rückwärtsstreueffekten. Desweiteren erlaubt es die Bestimmung von mikrophysikalischen Niederschlagsparametern. Die vorliegende Dissertation betrachtet neue Aspekte für polarimetrische, bodengebundene, monostatische Wetterradare im S-, C- und X-Band. Gleichungen zur Polarisationsbasistransformation von Reflektivitätsmessungen werden eingeführt. Eine vollpolarimetrische Wetterradarmessung in zirkularer Polarisationsbasis wird analysiert. Neue Methoden, die eine Überprüfung der polarimetrischen Kalibrierung von Wetterradarmessungen in zirkularer Polarisationsbasis erlauben, werden betrachtet. Weiterhin werden Methoden zur Dämpfungskorrektur von Wetterradarmessungen in linearer horizontaler / vertikaler Polarisationsbasis miteinander verglichen und Empfehlungen von zuverlässigen Methoden gegeben.

Although utilization of polarimetry techniques for recognition of military and civilian targets is well established in the narrowband context, it is not yet fully established in a broadband sense as compared to planetary area of research. The concept of combining polarimetry together with certain areas of broadband technology and thus forming a robust signature and feature set has been the main theme of this thesis. This is important, as basing the feature set on multiple types of signatures can increase the accuracy of the recognition process. In this thesis, the concept of radar target recognition based upon a polarization signature in a broadband context is examined. A proper UWB radar signal can excite the target dominant resonances and, consequently, reveal information about the target principle dimensions; while diversity in the polarization domain revealed information about the target shape. The target dimensions are used to classify the target, and then information about its shape is used to identify it. Fused together and inferred from the target characteristic polarization states, it was verified that the polarization information at dominant resonant frequencies have both a physical interpretation and attributes (as seen in section ‎3.4.3) related to the target symmetry, linearity, and orientation. In addition, this type of information has the ability to detect the presence of major scattering mechanisms such as strong specular reflection as in the case of the cylinder flat ends. Throughout the thesis, simulated canonical targets with similar resonant frequencies were used, and thus identification of radar targets was based solely on polarization information. In this framework, the resonant frequencies were merely identified as peaks in the frequency response for simple or low damping targets such as thin metal wires, or alternatively identified as the imaginary parts of the complex poles for complex or high damping targets with significant diameter and dielectric properties. Therefore, the main contribution of this thesis originates from the ability to integrate the optimum polarization states in a broadband context for improved target recognition performance. In this context, the spectral dispersion originating from the broad nature of the radar signal, the lack of accuracy in extracting the target resonances, the robustness of the polarization feature set, the representation of these states in time domain, and the feature set modelling with spatial variation are among the important issues addressed with several approaches presented to overcome them. The general approach considered involved a subset of “representative” times in the time domain, or correspondingly, “representative frequencies” in the frequency domain with which to associate optimum polarization states with each member of the subset are used. The first approach in chapter ‎3 involved the polarization representation by a set of frequency bands associated with the target resonant frequencies. This type of polarization description involved the formulation of a wideband scattering matrix to accommodate the broad nature of the signal presentation with appropriate bandwidth selection for each resonance; good estimation of the optimum polarization states in this procedure was achievable even for low signal-to-noise ratios. The second approach in chapter ‎4 extended the work of chapter ‎3 and involved the modification of the optimum polarization states by their associated powers. In addition, this approach included an identification algorithm based on the nearest neighbour technique. To identify the target, the identification algorithm involved the states at a set of resonant frequencies to give a majority vote. Then, a comparison of the performance of the modified polarization states and the original states demonstrated good improvement when the modified set is used. Generally, the accuracy of the resonance set estimate is more reliable in the time domain than the frequency domain, especially for resonances well localized in time. Therefore, the third approach in chapter ‎5 deals with the optimum states in the time domain where the extension to a wide band context was possible by the virtue of the polarization information embodied in the energy of the resonances. This procedure used a model-based signature to model the target impulse response as a set of resonances. The relevant resonance parameters, in this case, the resonant frequency and its associated energy, were extracted using the Matrix Pencil of Function algorithm. Again, this approach of sparse representation is necessary to find descriptors from the target impulse response that are time-invariant, and at the same time, can relate robustly to the target physical characteristics. A simple target such as a long wire showed that indeed polarization information contained in the target resonance energies could reflect the target physical attributes. In addition, for noise-corrupted signals and without any pulse averaging, the accuracy in estimating the optimum states was sufficiently good for signal to noise ratios above 20dB. Below this level, extraction of some members of the resonance set are not possible. In addition, using more complex wire models of aircraft, these time-based optimum states could distinguish between similar dimensional targets with small structural differences, e.g. different wing dihedral angles. The results also showed that the dominant resonance set has members belonging to different structural sections of the target. Therefore, incorporation of a time-based polarization set can give the full target physical characteristics. In the final procedure, a statistical Kernel function estimated the feature set derived previously in chapter ‎3, with aspect angle. After sampling the feature set over a wide set of angular aspects, a criterion based on the Bayesian error bisected the target global aspect into smaller sectors to decrease the variance of the estimate and, subsequently, decrease the probability of error. In doing so, discriminative features that have acceptable minimum probability of error were achievable. The minimum probability of error criterion and the angular bisection of the target could separate the feature set of two targets with similar resonances.

Arctic sea ice is rapidly declining in extent, thickness, volume and age, with the majority of the decline in extent observed at the end of the melt season. Advanced melt is a thermodynamic regime and is characterized by the formation of melt ponds on the sea ice surface, which have a lower surface albedo (0.2-0.4) than the surrounding ice (0.5-0.7) allowing more shortwave radiation to enter the system. The loss of multiyear ice (MYI) may have a profound impact on the energy balance of the system because melt ponds on first-year ice (FYI) comprise up to 70% of the ice surface during advanced melt, compared to 40% on MYI. Despite the importance of advanced melt to the ocean-sea ice-atmosphere system, advanced melt and the extent to which winter conditions influence it remain poorly understood due to the highly dynamic nature of melt pond formation and evolution, and a lack of reliable observations during this time. In order to establish quantitative links between winter and subsequent advanced melt conditions, and assess the effects of scale and choice of aggregation features on the relationships, three data aggregation approaches at varied spatial scales were used to compare high resolution satellite GeoEye-1 optical images of melt pond covered sea ice to winter airborne laser scanner surface roughness and electromagnetic induction sea ice thickness measurements. The findings indicate that winter sea ice thickness has a strong association with melt pond fraction (fp) for FYI and MYI. FYI winter surface roughness is correlated with fp, whereas for MYI no association with fp was found. Satellite-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are heavily relied upon for sea ice observation; however, during advanced melt the reliability of observations is reduced. In preparation for the upcoming launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM), the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistical test was used to assess the ability of simulated RCM parameters and grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) derived texture features to discriminate between major ice types during winter and advanced melt, with a focus on advanced melt. RCM parameters with highest discrimination ability in conjunction with optimal GLCM texture features were used as input parameters for Support Vector Machine (SVM) supervised classifications. The results indicate that steep incidence angle RCM parameters show promise for distinguishing between FYI and MYI during advanced melt with an overall classification accuracy of 77.06%. The addition of GLCM texture parameters improved accuracy to 85.91%. This thesis provides valuable contributions to the growing body of literature on fp parameterization and SAR ice type discrimination during advanced melt. / Graduate / 2019-03-21

La polarimétrie de Mueller est une technique optique qui mesure la réponse polarimétrique complète d’un milieu sous la forme d’une seule matrice de Mueller afin de remonter à ses propriétés optiques comme le dichroïsme, la biréfringence et la dépolarisation. Le couplage avec la microscopie non-linéaire (SHG par exemple) permet d’avoir accès à des informations précises sur un milieu biologique (structure, organisation, . . .). Cela impose de passer à une modalité d’imagerie à balayage laser, qui nécessite de mesurer la réponse polarimétrique du milieu pixel-par-pixel en des temps relativement courts (de l’ordre de la microseconde). Le but de cette thèse est de mettre en oeuvre un polarimètre de Mueller dont les cadences d’acquisition sont compatibles avec l’imagerie à balayage laser. Dans un premier temps, un polarimètre de Mueller inédit est proposé, basé sur le codage spectral de la polarisation dont toute l’information polarimétrique de l’échantillon est mesurée sous la forme d’un seul signal d’intensité en un temps record (10 μs). Ce dispositif est constitué d’une source à balayage rapide en longueur d’onde à 100 kHz (ou swept-source), de lames de phase d’ordre élevé et d’un détecteur monocanal. Les erreurs systématiques qui entachent la mesure sont évaluées et des méthodes de correction permettent de les prendre en compte dans une étape d’étalonnage qui utilise la réponse de deux milieux étalons.Ensuite, le polarimètre est implémenté dans un microscope commercial à balayage laser, utilisé initialement pour réaliser de l’imagerie non-linéaire (SHG). Cela requiert un redimensionnement du montage, ainsi que la synchronisation entre les deux systèmes. Par ailleurs, un protocole de calibration du dispositif est développé et permet de tenir compte de l’ensemble des erreurs systématiques du polarimètre indépendamment des anisotropies optiques engendrées par le microscope. Enfin, les premières images polarimétriques de Mueller en microscopie à balayage laser ont été acquises sur des échantillons inhomogènes spatialement (rubans adhésifs et cristaux de roches). La potentialité de la microscopie multimodale est démontrée sur des échantillons de fibroses de foie, en couplant l’imagerie polarimétrique de Mueller et la microscopie non-linéaire au sein d’un seul instrument. / Mueller polarimetry is an optical technique allowing the acquisition of the full polarimetric signature of a medium with a single Mueller matrix, and leading to its polarimetric parameters such as dichroism, birefringence and depolarization. Coupling Mueller polarimetry with nonlinear microscopy techniques (SHG for example), more precise information about the medium could be obtained (structure, organization . . .). This imaging technique uses a laser scanning system to measure the Mueller matrix of a medium point-to-point quickly (of the order of the microsecond). The aim of this thesis is to develop a Mueller polarimeter compatible with the laser scanning system. First, a new Mueller polarimeter is proposed using spectral encoding of the polarization and measuring the full polarimetric signature of a sample with a single channeled spectrum in a fast way (10 μs). This setup is composed of a 100 kHz swept-source laser, high order retarders and a single channel detector. Systematic errors on the Mueller matrix measurement are evaluated and correction methods take into account these errors in a calibration step that uses polarimetric signature of two references medium. Then, the polarimeter is implemented on a commercial laser scanning microscope that usually images non-linear contrasts (SHG). The update needs to reduce the dimension of the polarimeter and ensure an electronic synchronization between these two systems. However, a new calibration step is proposed and takes into account all the systematic errors of the polarimeter, independently of the optical anisotropy induced by the microscope. Finally, the images with the first Mueller scanning microscope are obtained with spatially inhomogeneous samples (cellophane tapes, rocks). The potentiality of the multimodal scanning microscopy Mueller/SHG on the same instrument is demonstrated in the case of hepatic fibrosis.