Optimization and calibration of a snapshot medium-wave infrared full-polarization-imaging system

In order to acquire the spatial polarization information in real time, a snapshot, mid-wave infrared, full-polarization-imaging system (SMWIFPIS) is proposed in this paper. Equal weight variance was used to optimize the polarization axis direction of the linear polarizer and the fast-axis azimuth angle of the wave plate in each channel to reduce the impact of the random intensity fluctuations in the infrared detector. A calibration method of the SMWIFPIS is proposed by investigating Fourier analysis method of a rotatable retarder fixed polarizer Stokes polarimeter (RRFPSP), which is used to improve the accuracy of polarization measurement. The calibration theory of the system is deduced. Finally, the correctness of the calibration method and the performance of the SMWIFPIS are proved by experiments. The experimental results show that the measurement accuracy of the SMWIFPIS is improved obviously through error calibration and compensation, which indicates that the effectiveness of the method is validated. The information measured by the SMWIFPIS is accurate.