Single-shot 3 × 3 Mueller matrix microscopy with color polarization encoding.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Microscopy

Background:

• Real-time Mueller matrix (MM) imaging is crucial for characterizing light-matter interactions.
• Current methods for MM retrieval are limited by slow, time-sequential acquisition of polarization states.
• Advances in polarization image sensors offer new possibilities for faster imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a cost-effective technique for real-time, snapshot retrieval of the 3x3 Mueller matrix in polarized light microscopy.
• To overcome the limitations of sequential polarization state changes.

Main Methods:

• Encoding linear polarization states into the red, green, and blue color channels of a light source.
• Utilizing a color polarization sensor (division of focal plane - DoFP) in the imaging plane of a transmission microscope.
• Analyzing the transmitted light to reconstruct the full 3x3 Mueller matrix in a single snapshot.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated real-time, snapshot retrieval of the 3x3 Mueller matrix.
• Validated the technique with experimental samples under dynamic imaging conditions.
• Achieved cost-effective implementation compared to existing methods.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method enables rapid, full Mueller matrix imaging in polarized light microscopy.
• This technique combines DoFP sensing with polarization color encoding for efficient data acquisition.
• Represents a significant advancement for real-time polarization-sensitive microscopy applications.