The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 27, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 21, 1996
Robert R Alfano, Bronx, NY (US);
Stavros G Demos, Astoria, NY (US);
The Research Foundation City College of New York, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for imaging objects based upon the polarization or depolarization of light. According to one embodiment, there is provided a method for imaging the surface of a turbid medium, the method comprising the steps of: (a) illuminating the surface of the turbid medium with light, whereby light is backscattered from the illuminated surface of the turbid medium; (b) detecting a pair of complementary polarization components of the backscattered light; and (c) forming an image of the illuminated surface using the pair of complementary polarization components. Preferably, the illuminating light is polarized (e.g., linearly polarized, circularly polarized, elliptically polarized). Where, for example, the illuminating light is linearly polarized, the pair of complementary polarization components are preferably the parallel and perpendicular components to the polarized illuminating light, and the image may be formed by subtracting the perpendicular component from the parallel component, by taking a ratio of the parallel and perpendicular components or by using some combination of a ratio and difference of the parallel and perpendicular components.