On the Transport of Polarized Infrared Signals Through the Terrestrial Atmosphere

Abstract

Both the Mie scattering and polarimetric transport models indicate that, in the LWIR, the atmospheric effect on the transport of right-hand circularly polarized signals and left-hand circularly polarized signals is identical. In the LWIR, the observed normalized circular polarization anisotropy, S3/SO, of a signal should not require any atmospheric corrections. Because natural LWIR light in not circularly polarized, only an active system will be able to exploit this finding. Both the Mie scattering and polarimetric transport models indicate that, in the LWIR, the atmospheric effect on the transport of the two orthogonal components of linearly polarized signals should be significantly different. In the LWIR both the observed degree of lineal polarization and the observed normalized linear polarization anisotropy Si/SO of a signal should require atmospheric corrections.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 23, 2002
Accession Number
ADA408175

Entities

People

  • Mark Pesses
  • Michael J. Price
  • Rodney Meyer
  • Steven Israel

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheric Attenuation
  • Circular Polarization
  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Electromagnetic Scattering
  • Linear Polarization
  • Measurement
  • Mie Scattering
  • Optical Phenomena
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Polarization
  • Polarizers
  • Refraction
  • Refractive Index
  • Scattering
  • Waveplates

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Spectroscopy.