US 11,953,700 B2
Multi-aperture polarization optical systems using beam splitters
Kartik Venkataraman, San Jose, CA (US); Agastya Kalra, Nepean (CA); and Achuta Kadambi, Los Altos Hills, CA (US)
Assigned to Intrinsic Innovation LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Intrinsic Innovation LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on May 27, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/332,858.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/030,723, filed on May 27, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0373349 A1, Dec. 2, 2021
Int. Cl. G02B 27/28 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 27/285 (2013.01) [G02B 27/288 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical system comprising:
a beam splitter system configured to split an input beam into a plurality of output beams comprising a first output beam, a second output beam, and a third output beam;
a first polarizing filter having a first angle of polarization and configured to filter the first output beam to produce a first filtered output beam having the first angle of polarization;
a second polarizing filter having a second angle of polarization and configured to filter the second output beam to produce a second filtered output beam having the second angle of polarization; and
a third polarizing filter having a third angle of polarization and configured to filter the third output beam to produce a third filtered output beam having the third angle of polarization, the first, second, and third angles of polarization being different from one another;
a plurality of image sensors configured respectively capture a first polarization image from the first filtered output beam, a second polarization image from the second filtered output beam, and a third polarization image from the third filtered output beam; and
a processing system comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
computing pixel-level correspondences between the first polarization image, the second polarization image, and the third polarization image, and
computing an angle of linear polarization (AOLP) image and a degree of linear polarization (DOLP) image from the computed pixel-level correspondences between the first polarization image, the second polarization image, and the third polarization image.
 
11. A method for computing a polarization signature, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processing system comprising one or more computers:
a first polarization image representing intensity of a first output beam after passing through a first polarizing filter at a first polarization angle;
a second polarization image representing intensity of a second output beam after passing through a second polarizing filter at a second polarization angle; and
a third polarization image representing intensity of a third output beam after passing through a third polarizing filter at a third polarization angle,
the first output beam, the second output beam, and the third output beam being split from an input beam by a beam splitter system; and
computing, by the processing system, pixel-level correspondences between the first polarization image, the second polarization image, and the third polarization image; and
computing an angle of linear polarization (AOLP) image and a degree of linear polarization (DOLP) image from the computed pixel-level correspondences between the first polarization image, the second polarization image, and the third polarization image.