Patent ID: 7016040

Claim:
An imaging polarimeter sensor, comprising: an achromatic beam-splitting polarizer that receives a polychromatic image beam of a scene and simultaneously produces a first polarized polychromatic image beam and a second polarized polychromatic image beam, wherein the second polarized polychromatic image beam is of a different polarization than the first polarized polychromatic image beam and is angularly separated from the first polarized polychromatic image beam; an imaging detector that receives the first polarized polychromatic image beam and the second polarized polychromatic image beam and produces an output image signal of the scene responsive to the first polarized polychromatic image beam and the second polarized polychromatic image beam; and an imaging optics system that images the first polarized polychromatic image beam and the second polarized polychromatic image beam onto the imaging detector.