Liquid-crystal Micropolarimeter Array for Visible Linear and Circular Polarization Imaging

In this paper, we propose a liquid-crystal micropolarimeter (LCMP) array with high spatial resolution for real-time linear and circular polarization imaging in visible spectrum. LCMPs for extracting 0 degrees, 90 degrees linearly and right-handed circularly polarized components of incident light are implemented by micro-patterning a liquid crystal (LC) layer on top of a 45 degrees oriented ultra-thin metal-wire-grid polarizer (MWGP). A compact LCMP pitch of 5 mu mx5 mu m is achieved with sulfonic-dye-1 (SD1) as the LC alignment material. In addition, these micron-scale LCMPs feature similar to 5 mu m overall thickness and similar to 1100 extinction ratio. Reported experimental results validate the concept of real-time linear and circular polarization image sensing and processing with targets illuminated by collimated artificial light.