Abstract

In a polarimeter, a polarization modulator changes a polarization phase of an output optical pulse with a modulation function that varies in time over the duration of the optical pulse. A static polarization state analyzer, which includes a one or more static polarization component analyzers and detectors, receives the modulated optical pulse after interaction with a target medium and provides time varying intensities of the polarization components of the received pulse. A signal processing module determines a polarization property of the target medium, such as a Mueller matrix, dependent upon time varied intensities over the duration of the received optical pulse. A time-division optical multiplexer may be used to combine the outputs from multiple static polarization component analyzers to form a single time-multiplexed signal comprising a plurality of optical pulses that are separated in time and passed to a single photo-detector.

Document Type

Patent

Status

Issued

Issue Date

10-26-2020

Patent Number

US 10816649 B1 [10,816,649]

CPC Classification

G01J4/02

Application number

15/878535

Assignees

Government of the United States, as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (US)

Filing Date

1-24-2018

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