Passive UV imaging polarimeter

The static polarimeter concept has a design and application flexibility potentially covering spectral ranges from <220nm to ∼2500nm. The original breadboard model of the passive UV polarimeter with sensitivity to 260 nm included elliptical analysis for general application such as biomedical, industrial, and commercial technology. It was adapted to be responsive to atmospheric and oceanic science and exoatmospheric planetary missions to provide linear polarization-resolved imagery in four spectral passbands between ∼415nm and ∼340nm in 5^∘×10^∘ fields of view. Simultaneous polarimetry is collected without electro-optical or mechanically moving or birefringent modulation of retardance. The compact, lightweight, rugged architecture uses instead stable thin-film components with low systematic instrumental polarization to provide high polarimetric accuracy. An internal polarization calibrator/stability monitor subsystem provides in-flight corrections for differential errors that might be induced by external environmental stresses.