Polarimetric image recorder

This patent discloses a polarimetric image recorder which records only the net polarization of the viewed scene. An optical lens system projects the light originating from the viewed scene onto a thin layer of an alkali halide crystal containing anisotropic color centers. Polarized light reorients the color centers and creates a net polarization in the layer. The net polarization of the layer is read by such means as shining polarized light through the layer and then through a polarizer set perpendicularly to the polarization of the light source. Whatever light is viewed through the reader represents a net polarization in the scene.