Concealed object enhancement using multi-polarization information for passive millimeter and terahertz wave security screening

Passive millimeter and terahertz wave imaging has become a significant potential technique for human security check and scene monitoring. Due to the small difference of the brightness temperatures between human body and concealed objects, the temperature sensitivity and spatial resolution of radiometers are always the key performance indexes which are difficult to improve. Therefore, when the hardware performance is given, improving detectivity becomes a pressing need. In this paper, a physically-based concealed object enhancement method using multi-polarization information is presented. The polarization model and polarization property of human body and concealed objects have been analyzed. By fusing multiple polarization images, we can obtain a complete polarization image in which the contrast between human body and concealed objects is enhanced and stable. The experimental results of simulation and measurement demonstrate the enhancement performance, and Differential Signal Noise Ratio (DSNR) is obviously improved by using the proposed method. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement