Double-pass imaging polarimetry in the human eye

A Mueller-matrix imaging polarimeter was developed to measure spatially resolved polarization properties in the living human eye. The apparatus is a double-pass setup that incorporates two liquid-crystal variable retarders and a slow-scan CCD camera in the recording stage. Series of 16 images for the combinations of independent polarization states in the first and second passages were recorded for two experimental conditions: with the camera conjugated either with the retina or with the eye's pupil plane. Spatially resolved collections of Mueller matrices and the degree of polarization were calculated from those images for both retinal and pupil planes.     

视细胞浓度分布对散射光偏振性的影响

人眼视网膜是一种具有高散射特性的生物组织。基于米氏散射理论研究光在视网膜组织中的传输过程对生物组织散射成像具有重要意义。根据解剖学上视网膜结构与细胞分布的特点,引入分子动力学领域的静态结构因子修正辐射传递理论,并采用离散坐标法求解视细胞对散射光偏振性的影响。结果表明散射光偏振性取决于视细胞尺寸与浓度分布等因素。在不同的极角和光程位置,散射光束的偏振性呈现波动性变化,视锥细胞核比视杆细胞核具有更强的散射特性,散射光束的偏振特性变化随散射角的增大而增大。     

Light scattering by fluffy particles with the PROGRA experiment: Mixtures of materials

The PROGRA² experiment is specifically designed to measure the linear polarization of the light scattered by clouds of particles. The imaging method allows us to obtain maps of polarization and to measure the size distribution and the number density of the particles in the field of view. This work presents a systematic study of highly porous (fluffy) aggregates with submicron-sized constituent grains lifted by an air-draught. The main materials are silica and carbon. The maximum in polarization mainly depends on the average size of the constituent grains. The results, mainly concerned with the negative branch of the phase curves, the maximum polarization, the color effect and the albedo are compared with cometary observations and discussed in terms of physical properties.     

液晶自适应光学视网膜校正成像技术研究

为了实现对人眼视网膜的高分辨率成像,解决偏振能量损失、成像视场小和普适性差等问题,对液晶自适应光学技术及其在人眼视网膜成像中的应用进行了研究。通过开环光路的设计方案,避免了闭环液晶自适应系统的偏振光能量损失;在光路中加入可变视场光阑,利用小视场照明进行波前探测、大视场照明进行像差校正和成像的方法扩大了成像视场;使用脉冲光照明的方案减小曝光量;通过偏振光照明提高能量利用率、等效无穷远视标配合补偿镜以及改进后的视标提高盯视稳定性等一系列方法,提高系统普适性。校正后成像的清晰度和对比度获得了明显提高;高分辨率眼底成像视场直径从200 μm扩大到500 μm;曝光量减小到原来的1/2~1/3;对前期难以获得清晰成像的样本,取得了效果良好的视网膜视觉细胞自适应图像。     

Probing vacuum birefringence by phase-contrast Fourier imaging under fields of high-intensity lasers

In vacuum high-intensity lasers can cause photon–photon interaction via the process of virtual vacuum polarization which may be measured by the phase velocity shift of photons across intense fields. In the optical frequency domain, the photon–photon interaction is polarization-mediated described by the Euler–Heisenberg effective action. This theory predicts the vacuum birefringence or polarization dependence of the phase velocity shift arising from nonlinear properties in quantum electrodynamics (QED). We suggest a method to measure the vacuum birefringence under intense optical laser fields based on the absolute phase velocity shift by phase-contrast Fourier imaging. The method may serve for observing effects even beyond the QED vacuum polarization.     

偏振成像探测技术发展现状及关键技术

考虑偏振成像探测技术在目标探测中具有独特优势,本文介绍了偏振成像探测技术的概念,概括了国外偏振成像探测技术的研究历程和发展现状。基于上述描述,针对偏振成像探测的关键技术进行了深入的讨论,包括目标偏振特性、信道环境下的偏振传输特性和偏振成像目标全偏振图像的获取等。最后总结了该研究领域存在的主要问题,归纳了偏振成像探测技术的发展趋势。     

用Stokes参量法实现数字同轴偏振全息的研究

提出了一种基于Stokes参量的数字同轴偏振全息方法.在实验中用一束线偏振光和一束椭圆偏振光作为参考光, 分别与物光进行干涉,通过拍摄在两个相互垂直方向上的全息图,计算出物光在这两个方向的振幅和相位信息, 从而得到物光的Stokes参量和物体的全偏振信息,实现对各向异性物体偏振态空间分布的图像重建. 实验结果表明,该方法可用于物体的全偏振特性的测量.这种方法在求出物光Stokes参量的同时, 也可消除零级像和共轭像的干扰,因此也可用于同轴或离轴全息.     

偏振成像在光学曲率半径测量中的应用

为了保证整个光学系统的质量,对光学曲率半径的准确测量与检验至关重要.本文将机械球径仪法与光学投影法结合,采用光电图像法对矢高进行判读,经计算可以间接测得曲率半径,具体分析了被测元件边缘特征的准确性对矢高及曲率半径测量精度的影响.本文分别采用偏振成像与普通成像的方法进行了测量与对比,发现偏振图像具有更好的边缘细节特征,矢...     

利用表面散射光偏振差异的目标识别技术

 分析了不同物体散射场偏振特性的差异,依据消光定理的矢量微扰解方法将物体散射场分为零阶和高阶解,零阶反射光可完全保持入射光的偏振度,高阶散射则会导致偏振度的降低,因而总散射光的偏振度依赖于散射表面的粗糙程度。提出了利用斯托克斯-穆勒体系测量物体消偏特性的方法并通过实验对一些物体作了测量,实验结果表明：光滑表面可以较好地保留入射光偏振度,而粗糙表面则有很强的消偏作用,因此偏振成像方法可有效地提高目标探测和识别效率。     

一种基于新型偏振干涉成像光谱仪的目标偏振信息探测新方法

提出了一种采用基于视场补偿型Savart偏光镜的新型偏振干涉成像光谱仪对二维目标偏振信息进行空间遥感探测的新原理和新方法.在新型偏振干涉成像光谱仪光学系统不变的情况下,通过旋转偏振干涉仪分别测出了三个不同角度下像面上各像点的光强值,反演出了二维面目标的斯托克斯矢量,并给出了各像点偏振度和偏振方向的理论表达式.采用计算机模拟实验对该探测原理和方法进行了验证,所得结果与理论完全符合.从理论和实践上扩展了干涉成像光谱仪的探测功能,与目前国内外所研究的成像光谱仪相比,该成像光谱仪既能同时探测目标二维空间信息和一维光谱信息,又提供了一种获得目标偏振信息的手段和方法.     

Retinal axial focusing and multi-layer imaging with a liquid crystal adaptive optics camera

With the help of adaptive optics(AO) technology, cellular level imaging of living human retina can be achieved.Aiming to reduce distressing feelings and to avoid potential drug induced diseases, we attempted to image retina with dilated pupil and froze accommodation without drugs. An optimized liquid crystal adaptive optics camera was adopted for retinal imaging. A novel eye stared system was used for stimulating accommodation and fixating imaging area. Illumination sources and imaging camera kept linkage for focusing and imaging different layers. Four subjects with diverse degree of myopia were imaged. Based on the optical properties of the human eye, the eye stared system reduced the defocus to less than the typical ocular depth of focus. In this way, the illumination light can be projected on certain retina layer precisely.Since that the defocus had been compensated by the eye stared system, the adopted 512 × 512 liquid crystal spatial light modulator(LC-SLM) corrector provided the crucial spatial fidelity to fully compensate high-order aberrations. The Strehl ratio of a subject with-8 diopter myopia was improved to 0.78, which was nearly close to diffraction-limited imaging. By finely adjusting the axial displacement of illumination sources and imaging camera, cone photoreceptors, blood vessels and nerve fiber layer were clearly imaged successfully.     

Pulse sequence for dynamic volumetric imaging of hyperpolarized metabolic products

Dynamic nuclear polarization and dissolution of a ¹³C-labeled substrate enables the dynamic imaging of cellular metabolism. Spectroscopic information is typically acquired, making the acquisition of dynamic volumetric data a challenge. To enable rapid volumetric imaging, a spectral-spatial excitation pulse was designed to excite a single line of the carbon spectrum. With only a single resonance present in the signal, an echo-planar readout trajectory could be used to resolve spatial information, giving full volume coverage of 32 × 32 × 16 voxels every 3.5 s. This high frame rate was used to measure the different lactate dynamics in different tissues in a normal rat model and a mouse model of prostate cancer.     

Detection of corrosion beneath a paint layer by use of spectral polarization optical imaging

The spectral and polarization properties of scattered light were used to image corrosion beneath the surface of a painted aluminum plate. The quality of imaging of the corrosion on the metal surface was significantly enhanced by the spectral polarization optical imaging technique. Depolarization scattered light was used to detect and image corrosion beneath the paint layer.     

Two-dimensional birefringence measurement system with a polarization modulator and a rotating analyzer

The measuring system of two-dimensional birefringence distribution with a polarization modulator and a rotating analyzer using a rotating analyzer method is presented. The system simply consists of a laser diode, two polarizers, two quarter wave plates and a CCD camera. Thanks to an imaging system, the mechanism to scan a sample is unnecessary and two-dimensional measurement is possible and easy. The birefringence of retardation and orientation of the optic axis can be determined by the azimuth angle of an elliptically polarized light passing through a sample. The azimuth angle is obtained by applying the phase shifting algorithm to measure the polarization properties; by improving the calculation algorithm, wide range measurement is accomplished. The measurement procedure and a number of results are described.     

Polarization degree of optical waves with non-Gaussian probability density functions: Kullback relative entropy-based approach

The definition of degree of polarization for non-Gaussian partially polarized light is analyzed. A general framework based on the Kullback relative entropy is developed, and properties that enlighten the physical meaning of the degree of polarization are established. In particular, it is shown how the degree of polarization is related to the measure of proximity between probability density functions and to the measure of disorder provided by the Shannon entropy.     

EMCCD集成偏振-微光一体化成像技术研究

单一探测器实现多维度信息获取是光电探测未来的发展方向。针对目标探测中能量和偏振信息不能兼顾的问题,提出了一种同时具有偏振-微光功能的像元阵列结构。通过引入白光通道和精简偏振通道,可在EMCCD器件上实现偏振和微光探测的一体化集成。实验结果表明,在微光条件下,探测器高灵敏性能被保持,低照度下的成像质量几乎不衰减;偏振模式下,白光通道和两个偏振角度使探测器能够获得足够的偏振信息,实现对目标的偏振探测。该方法实现了高灵敏度成像探测和偏振信息探测的同步获取,是一种通过算法处理就能够实现探测模式可重构的新方法。     

Phase-shifting polarization interferometry for microstructure linewidth measurement

We report on a novel procedure to measure the linewidth of steep microstructures, based on the polarization anisotropy caused by the structure edges. A liquid-crystal phase shifter and a polarizer are introduced into the imaging optics of a reflection-mode microscope. We apply the principle of phase-shifting interferometry to measure the phase and contrast of a TM-polarized image with the TE-polarized image as reference. The method provides selective edge detection because the polarization difference is localized at the structure edges.     

Measurement of surface features beyond the diffraction limit with an imaging ellipsometer

We report a sensitive surface and feature measurement technique that uses a novel imaging ellipsometer. Polarization signatures from unresolved subwavelength structures are utilized as a sensitive measure of linewidth. A focused beam rigorous coupled wave analysis method is developed to simulate the polarization effects from isolated subwavelength structures. Experimental results show that this technique can accurately measure linewidths down to 100 nm with an imaging system whose diffraction-limited resolution is 500 nm. The accuracy of our measurements is ~10 nm for lines that are broader than 100 nm.     

Backscattering target detection in a turbid medium by use of circularly and linearly polarized light

The polarization properties of the backscattered light from a turbid medium containing large-diameter (10.143-microm) and small-diameter (0.202-microm) spherical polystyrene particles are studied. It is shown that the difference in the polarization properties of the emerging light that originates at the target and that is backscattered from the medium allows for improvement of image contrast by use of polarized light. Based on the images obtained by the CCD camera, the polarization memory effect with circularly polarized light is demonstrated to have an advantage over the linear polarization technique in imaging a highly reflective target inside a turbid medium containing large particles.     

Polarization modulation imaging ellipsometry for thin film thickness measurement

A polarization modulation (PM) imaging ellipsometer is proposed and setup in order to measure precisely the thickness of thin film. Five images are collected sequentially by CCD camera with respect to five pre-determined azimuth angles of a quarter wave plate (QWP) during measurement. Then two-dimensional (2-D) distributions of the ellipsometric parameters ψ and Δ over the full dynamic range are obtained. Conceptually, PM imaging ellipsometer integrates the features of phase shift interferometry with conventional photometric ellipsometry by rotating the QWP sequentially to produce polarization modulation that is able to measure the thickness of a thin film in two dimensions precisely and quickly. The basic principle of PM imaging ellipsometer is derived wherein features such as common path configuration, full dynamic range of measurement, and insensitive to non-uniform response of the CCD are analyzed. The experimental results verify the ability and performance of PM imaging ellipsometer on 2-D thin film thickness, while the errors regarding the ellipsometric parameters measurements are discussed.