Polarization-sensitive infrared sensor for target discrimination

Physics Innovations Inc. has developed polarization- sensitive thermal imaging sensors with high spatial resolution. In this paper we describe a method where video frames are captured and processed into images of the target's temperature distribution and the target's 3D shape and orientation. We demonstrate that the two angles of surface orientation can be determined for every point on a target. The geometric shape of a target can be determined simultaneously with the temperature distribution over the field-of-view. With high sped signal processing, high- resolution polarimetric data can be captured and displayed in real time and at frequency.