Design of a dual use imager incorporating polarimetric capabilities

This paper presents the design of a visible band imaging polarimeter that can also function as a low light level intensity imager. The polarimeter is based on the division of aperture approach, acquiring four subimages simultaneously on a single CCD array. The system is currently designed to measure the first three normalized components of the Stokes vector through polarization filtering on three of the four available channels. The fourth channel remains unfiltered for radiometric sensing in low power situations. The opto-mechanical design allows for ease of assembly without requiring active alignment techniques, while maintaining a modular system. The modular nature provides a robust, flexible sensor that can be tailored to multiple applications.