Patent ID: 6927888

Claim:
A method for producing images of an object or region of interest of the object, comprising the steps of: a) producing an incident beam of light in a pre-selected polarization state and scanning said incident earn of light point by point across an object or region of interest of the object; b) detecting light intensity signals corresponding to beams of light in a pre-selected number of polarization states reflected point by point from the object or region of interest of the object and storing electronic signals corresponding to the detected light intensity signals; c) repeating steps a) and b) for an effective number of pre-selected polarization states of the incident beam of light; d) constructing a spatially resolved matrix of the object point by point from the detected light intensity signals and from said spatially resolved matrix constructing spatially resolved images of the object or region of interest of the object for a set of theoretical polarization states of the incident beam of light in addition to those input states generated in the incident beam of light, said matrix being selected to describe the effect of the object on the polarization properties of light; e) characterizing image quality of each image in accordance with an effective image quality parameter and based upon said characterization selecting a best image of said object or region of said object; and f) visually displaying said best image.