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 three-dimensional 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 speed signal processing, high-resolution polarimetric data can be captured and displayed in real time and at video frequency.