Optics and Precision Engineering, Volume. 17, Issue 6, 1431(2009)

Design of skylight polarization measurement system

CUI Yan1...2,*, CAO Nan-nan2, CHU Jin-kui1,2, ZHAO Kai-chun2 and WANG Ti-chang2 |Show fewer author(s)
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  • 2[in Chinese]
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    According to the principle that light polarization can be expressed with a Stokes vector, a new system to measure the polarized skylight distribution is developed. The system is composed of a computer,a modified equatorial mount,an optical fiber spectrometer and an improved astronomical telescope mounted with a rotatable linear polarizer. The spectral resolution of this system is 1.4 nm for the measurement when wavelength ranges from 400 nm to 900 nm. Using modified equatorial mount, the system can scan the points of celestial hemisphere at azimuth ranges from 0°to 180° and elevation 0° to 90° at an angular resolution of 2.5°. For a full-angle viewing field of 4.5°, this system can measure the radiance intensity, the Degree of Linear Polarization (DOLP), and the Angle of Linear Polarization (AOLP) of the celestial. The calibration results show that the repeatability of intensity measurements is 99% in spectral ranges from 450 nm to 500 nm, and (95±3)% from 500 nm to 900 nm. The uncertainty of DOLP is less than 2% in spectral ranges from 400 nm to 750 nm, especially 1.2% at 475 nm.The angle error of AOLP is smaller than 2°.

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    CUI Yan, CAO Nan-nan, CHU Jin-kui, ZHAO Kai-chun, WANG Ti-chang. Design of skylight polarization measurement system[J]. Optics and Precision Engineering, 2009, 17(6): 1431

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    Paper Information

    Received: Jan. 20, 2009

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: Aug. 28, 2009

    The Author Email: Yan CUI (yanc @dlut.edu.cn)

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