Paper
8 June 2012 Optical characterization of a micro-grid polarimeter
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
A division of focal plane (DoFP) micro grid polarizer array (MGPA) has been characterized. The MGPA under test is a commercial device available from Moxtek Inc. These wire grid style polarizers use aluminum lines fabricated on a glass substrate and have opaque regions surrounding individual pixels. Our approach to testing the MGPA has been to reimage them onto a detector by placing the MGPA at an intermediate focal plane. For the purposes of characterizing the MGPA, a high magnification reimaging optical system was assembled. The oversampled MGPA pixels were examined by using an adjustable analyzing polarizer. The effects of pixel throughput and cross talk are examined as a function of both wavelength and illumination f/#. A calibration procedure has been determined for the use of such devices. The MGPA array was also examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). From these SEM measurements, the pitch, fill factor, and aluminum thickness were measured. In preparation for attaching the MGPA directly to a CCD, an alignment tolerance analysis was completed. The results indicate that 0.5 μm alignment of MGPA pixel center to image sensor is required to get a system with significantly low crosstalk for useful polarization imaging.
© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Kenneth Fourspring and Zoran Ninkov "Optical characterization of a micro-grid polarimeter", Proc. SPIE 8364, Polarization: Measurement, Analysis, and Remote Sensing X, 83640M (8 June 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.919301
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KEYWORDS
Polarizers

Sensors

Modulation

Polarization

Charge-coupled devices

Scanning electron microscopy

Imaging systems

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