NOVEL CAMERAS: Polarization difference imaging camera reveals 'unseen' features

摘要

Subtle surface details, textures, and entire features missed by an unpolarized white-light camera can be revealed through real-time polarization difference imaging via a novel polarimetric camera architecture, dubbed Detect POL, developed and patented by Q5 Innovations (Victoria, BC, Canada) and built and tested in collaboration with scientists at Universite Laval led by Simon Thibault (Quebec, QC, Canada). Polarization difference imaging (PDI) technology has been limited by sequential capture of image data--typically at rates much slower than the real-time variation of polarization (POL) information within a scene. Q5 Innovations developed the Detect POL imaging and sensing technologies, including a custom beamsplitting assembly that enables simultaneous, real-time capture of the polarization difference image across a wide field of view, revealing features otherwise "unseen" by conventional cameras (see figure).