Patent ID: 7155363

Claim:
A method for determining the temperature T at at least one location on the surface of a sample, comprising the steps: (a) measuring, at an oblique take-off angle and at at least one wavelength v, radiance at at least two linearly independent polarizations p 1 and p 2 ; (b) computing a polarized radiance ratio R p1 (v)/R p2 (v) of said measured radiances R p1 (v), R p2 (v) to determine the associated polarized emissivity ratio ε p1 (v)/ε p2 (v), in accordance with the relationship R p1 (v)/R p2 (v)=ε p1 (v)ε p2 (v); (c) applying at least one additional constraint to compute the value of at least one of the emissivities, ε p1 (v), ε p2 (v), constituting said polarized emissivity ratio; (d) determining the temperature T at said one location by solving the equation: R p1 ( v,T )=ε p1 ( vT )× P ( v,T ), wherein P(v,T) is the Planck function; (e) irradiating said surface with radiation including said wavelength v, and measuring reflectance ρ from said surface at said wavelength v and said polarizations p 1 and p 2 to thereby determine the reflectance-derived ratio 1−ε p1 (v)/1−ε p2 (v); and (f) applying said reflectance-derived ratio as said at least one additional constraint in said step (c) for computing said at least one emissivity value.