Large and variable polarization is an inherent property of a majority of blazars. Systematic rotations of the polarization vector have been claimed for several blazars. In some cases, however, the reality of these rotations may be questionable. We suggest an additional method for the verification of the reality of polarization position angle rotations based on the correlation of the normalized Stokes parameters.

No description available.

Retinal diseases are a major cause of blindness worldwide. Although widely studied, disease mechanisms are not completely understood, and diagnostic tests may not detect disease early enough for timely intervention. The goal of this research is to contribute to research for more sensitive diagnostic tests that might use the interaction of polarized light with retinal tissue to detect subtle changes in the microstructure. This dissertation describes the GDx-MM, a scanning laser polarimeter which measures a complete 16-element Mueller matrix image of the retina. This full polarization signature may provide new comparative information on the structure of healthy and diseased retinal tissue by highlighting depolarizing structures as well as structures with varying magnitudes and orientations of retardance and diattenuation.The three major components of this dissertation are: 1. Development of methods for polarimeter optimization and error analysis; 2. Design, optimization, assembly, calibration, and validation of the GDx-MM polarimeter; and 3. Analysis of data for several human subjects. Development involved modifications to a Laser Diagnostics GDx, a commercially available scanning laser ophthalmoscope with incomplete polarization capability. Modifications included installation of polarization components, development of a data acquisition system, and implementation of algorithms to convert raw data into polarization parameter images. Optimization involved visualization of polarimeter state trajectories on the Poincaré sphere and a condition number analysis of the instrument matrix. Retinal images are collected non-invasively at 20 ?m resolution over a 15° visual field in four seconds. Validation of the polarimeter demonstrates a polarimetric measurement accuracy of approximately ± 5%.Retinal polarization data was collected on normal human subjects at the University of Arizona and at Indiana University School of Optometry. Calculated polarization parameter images reveal properties of the tissue microstructure. For example, retardance images indicate nerve fiber layer thickness and orientation, and depolarization images (uniform for these normal subjects), are predicted to indicate regions of disease-related tissue disruption. This research demonstrates a method for obtaining a full polarization signature of the retina in one measurement using a polarimetrically optimized instrument, and provides a step toward the use of complete retinal imaging polarimetry in the diagnosis and monitoring of retinal disease.

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an active microwave remote sensing system able to acquire high resolution images of the scattering behaviour of an observed scene. The contribution of SAR polarimetry (POLSAR) in detection and classification of objects is described and found to add valuable information compared to previous approaches. In this thesis, a new target detection/classification methodology is developed that makes novel use of the polarimetric information of the backscattered field from a target. The detector is based on a geometrical perturbation filter which correlates the target of interest with its perturbed version. Specifically, the operation is accomplished with a polarimetric coherence representing a weighted and normalised inner product between the target and its perturbed version, where the weights are extracted from the observables. The mathematical formulation is general and can be applied to any deterministic (point) target. However, in this thesis the detection is primarily focused on multiple reflections and oriented dipoles due to their extensive availability in common scenarios. An extensive validation against real data is provided exploiting different datasets. They include one airborne system: E-SAR L-band (DLR, German Aerospace Centre); and three satellite systems: ALOS-PALSAR L-band (JAXA, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency), RADARSAT-2 C-band (Canadian Space Agency) and TerraSAR-X X-band (DLR). The attained detection masks reveal significant agreement with the expected results based on the theoretical description. Additionally, a comparison with another widely used detector, the Polarimetric Whitening Filter (PWF) is presented. The methodology proposed in this thesis appears to outperform the PWF in two significant ways: 1) the detector is based on the polarimetric information rather than the amplitude of the return, hence the detection is not restricted to bright targets; 2) the algorithm is able to discriminate among the detected targets (i.e. target recognition).

Thesis (M.S. in Combat Systems Technology)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Brett Borden. Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-72). Also available online.

CHAPTER I A description of the sun and the type of radio radiation it emits is given. The relation that exists between this and other events occurring on the sun's surface is studied. CHAPTER II The literature dealing with the origin of solar radio noise is reviewed. CHAPTER III The method of specifying polarized radiation and the effect of a magneto- ionic medium on such radiation is discussed. The possible origin of the polarization of solar radio noise is examined and the literature relating to this and to the observations of polarization of solar noise is reviewed. A short outline of the methods used in measuring polarization is given. CHAPTER IV A detailed outline of the construction of a polarimeter is given together with full circuit diagrams and illustrative photographs. CHAPTER V A brief discussion of the operation of the polarimeter, the results obtained and suggestions for its future operation is given.

The Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), when completed in 2019 will be the largest solar telescope built to date. DKIST will have a suite of first light polarimetric instrumentation requiring broadband polarization modulation and calibration optical elements. Compound crystalline retarders meet the design requirements for efficient modulators and achromatic calibration retarders. These retarders are the only possible large diameter optic that can survive the high flux, 5 arc minute field, and ultraviolet intense environment of a large aperture solar telescope at Gregorian focus. This dissertation presents work performed for the project. First, I measured birefringence of the candidate materials necessary to complete designs. Then, I modeled the polarization effects with three-dimensional ray-tracing codes as a function of angle of incidence and field of view. Through this analysis I learned that due to the incident converging F/13 beam on the calibration retarders, the previously assumed linear retarder model fails to account for effects above the project polarization specifications. I discuss modeling strategies such as Mueller matrix decompositions and simplifications of those strategies while still meeting fit error requirements. Finally, I present characterization techniques and how these were applied to prototype components.

The Mini-RF radar, launched on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, imaged the lunar surface using hybrid-polarimetric, transmitting one circular polarization and receiving linear H and V polarizations. Earth-based radar operating at the same frequency has acquired data of the same terrains using circular-polarized transmit waves and sampling circular polarizations. For lunar targets where the viewing geometry is nearly the same, the polarimetry derived from Mini-RF and the earth-based data should be very similar. However, we have discovered that there is a considerable difference in circular polarization ratio (CPR) values between the two data sets. We investigate possible causes for this discrepancy, including cross-talk between channels, sampling, and the ellipticity of the Mini-RF transmit wave. We find that none of these can reproduce the observed CPR differences, though a nonlinear block adaptive quantization function used to compress the data will significantly distort some other polarimetry products. A comparison between earth-based data sets acquired using two different sampling modes (sampling received linear polarizations and sampling circular polarizations) suggests that the CPR differences may be partially due to sampling the data in a different receive polarimetry bases.

No description available.

Substantial impacts of aerosols on climate and public health underscore the need for accurate characterization of atmospheric aerosol distributions and microphysical properties. The Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (MSPI) combines accurate multispectral, multiangle, and polarimetric technologies in a single instrument that images a wide swath on the Earth's surface to advance aerosol remote sensing capabilities. MSPI is required to have 3% radiometric uncertainty and 0.005 degree of linear polarization (DoLP) uncertainty. These are difficult requirements that push the limits of available technologies needed to perform space-based polarimetric imaging. This work examines three topics related to MSPI fabrication and calibration: polarization errors and their correction, achromatic, athermal, quarter wave retarder fabrication, and analysis of a polarization state generator (PSG) for MSPI polarization calibration confirmation.MSPI polarization errors may arise from surface geometry of the optical components, coatings, and quarter wave plates (QWPs). Static polarization errors can be calibrated out, but result in decreased SNR. Polarization errors that drift following calibration cannot be corrected, so a sensitivity analysis is used to set time-varying diattenuation and retardance magnitude tolerances. QWPs are required to work in concert with the PEMs to modulate the linear component of the Stokes vector. A three-material achromatic, athermalized QWP was designed, fabricated and its performance validated. Analysis indicated that the compound QWP was unlikely to meet the requirements if plates were specified by thickness. To address this, a method for QWP fabrication was developed that involves monitoring retardance during polishing. To verify MSPI performance, a PSG was built and calibrated which outputs weakly linearly polarized light with DoLPs varying from 0.0005 to 0.4 with 0.0005 uncertainty by passing nearly unpolarized light through a tilted plane parallel plate. The PSG was intended to act as a calibration standard based on calculated DoLP, but proved difficult to model. Therefore, the DoLP was instead measured to repeatability of 0.0005. Finally, example spectropolarimetric image data taken with MSPI was presented. Work on a follow-on prototype continues that will advance the technologies needed to realize the space-based, fully capable MSPI.