Publication Year:
Author(s): Laura M. Eshelman, Joseph A. Shaw
Abstract
Sunlight becomes partially linearly polarized when scattered from atmospheric gas molecules and can be quantified using the linear Stokes parameters S0 , S1 , S2 and the derived degree of linear polarization and angle of polarization (AoP). The angle-dependent Stokes parameters S1 and S2 and the AoP require a reference plane. Commonly used reference planes for polarimetric applications include the instrument, scattering, and solar principal planes, each of which provides unique insights when analyzing sky polarization data. Methods to transform the parameters between each frame of reference are known; however, previous publications have not shown the results of transforming a time series of all-sky polarization images into these different reference planes clearly showing how this alters the image visualization. We review two methods used to rotate all-sky polarization images from the instrument to the scattering plane and the solar principal plane, and for the first time shows all-sky polarization image sequences recorded from sunrise to sunset of Stokes S1 and S2 and AoP for each reference frame.
Citation
Eshelman, L. M., & Shaw, J. A. (2019). Visualization of all-sky polarization images referenced in the instrument, scattering, and solar principal planes. Optical Engineering, 58(08), 1. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.58.8.082418