Polarization visual enhancement technique for LWIR microgrid polarimeter imagery

Division of focal plane (DoFP) polarimeters are a particular class of imaging device that consists of an array of micropolarizers integrated upon a focal plane array sensor (FPA). Such devices are also called microgrid polarimeters and have been studied over the past decade with systems being designed and built in all regions of the optical spectrum. These systems are advantageous due to their rugged, compact design and ability to obtain a complete set of polarimetric measurements during a single frame capture. One inherent disadvantage of DoFP systems is that each pixel of the FPA sensor makes a polarized intensity measurement of a different scene point. These spatial measurements are then used to estimate the Stokes vectors across the scene. Since each polarized intensity measurement has a different instantaneous field-of-view (IFOV), artifacts are introduced that can degrade the quality of estimated polarization imagery. Here we develop and demonstrate a visual enhancement technique that is able to reduce false polarization caused by IFOV error while preserving true polarization content within the Stokes parameter images. The technique is straight-forward conceptually and is computationally efficient. All results are presented using data acquired from an actual LWIR microgrid sensor.