Advanced Optical Technologies, Inc.

Brian G Hoover

Jonathan H Turner

David E Taliaferro

Pablo A Reyes

Virgil N Kohlhepp, Iii

Virgil N Iii Kohlhepp

A polarimeter and a method of analyzing and imaging microstructural material orientation of a sample are disclosed. The polarimeter, which is a partial Mueller-matrix polarimeter (pMMP), accesses multiple independent polarization channels by employing two independent polarization modulators configured to switch serially among multiple independent settings, wherein the combination of the settings of the first and second polarization modulators defines an independent polarization channel, and wherein an imaging detector produces a set of spatially registered images that are synchronized with the channels formed by the polarization modulators; and wherein a processor connected with a memory executes a classification algorithm stored in the memory that maps the set of images to one or more material orientation images by mapping the set of values for each detector pixel corresponding to the set of spatially registered images to a value of material orientation at each pixel coordinate using a machine-learning model, an electrodynamic model, or a combination thereof. The invention can thereby create material microstructural orientation images of diverse anisotropic materials, for instance polymer domains, fiber bundles or plys, and metallic crystalline grains.

Polarimeter with multiple independent tunable channels and method for material orientation imaging

Embodiments of an active or laser polarimeter are disclosed that transmit multiple independent and tunable temporally-multiplexed polarization states and record or image, at video rates if necessary, the polarized intensity or irradiance reflected or transmitted by objects illuminated by those states, and apply the recorded data to material and/or object classification and recognition using classification algorithms that exploit features of polarization signatures dependent on material type, texture, and/or object shape. The polarimeter also generally records and utilizes one or more passive polarization measurements in order to realize a hybrid active-passive polarimeter. The polarimeter channels are configured and tuned to access multi-dimensional signature spaces specified by existing signature models and/or measurements, with polarization-modulator settings derived by a newly-disclosed subspace-projection algorithm that maximizes a target contrast parameter. Multiple independent polarization channels allow the new polarimeter to outperform conventional two-channel polarimeters, while the subspace-projection algorithm allows the number of channels to be minimized in order to minimize sensor size, weight, and power (SWaP) and maximize speed. Multiple channels are realized by multiplexing among independent transmitter polarization states with one or more high-speed multiplexers, in one embodiment a set of fold-mirror assemblies in the transmitter among which the laser beam is switched by one or more galvanometer scanners fitted in one embodiment with a newly-disclosed composite mirror. The method for material and object classification and recognition includes the maximally-biased classifier derived by the subspace-projection algorithm applied to a single target Mueller matrix, and methods to generalize the classifier.

Polarimeter with multiple independent tunable channels and method for material and object classification and recognition

The corneal implant of the current invention takes the general form of a thin, transparent, flexible, porous, biocompatible film of suitable polymer material. The implant is sufficiently porous, the porosity being imparted by the film being irradiated to produce tracks and the material in those tracks being subsequently removed through an etching process, to allow the adequate flow of gaseous and tissue fluid components through the film. Specific embodiments of the invention are achieved by the addition of features to the general form. The embodiment applicable to corneal reshaping features a surface relief pattern in the implant. The artificial iris embodiment features an imprinted partly to fully opaque or partially reflective annular iris pattern of selected inner and outer diameters.

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Tijeras, NM, United States of America

Brian G Hoover