We present a new, to the best of our knowledge, experimental configuration of Mueller matrix polarimeter based on wavelength polarization coding. This is a compact and fast technique to study polarization phenomena. Our theoretical approach, the necessity to correct systematic errors and our experimental results are presented. The feasibility of the technique is tested on vacuum and on a linear polarizer.

Underwater target detection is investigated by combining active polarization imaging and optical correlation-based approaches. Experiments were conducted in a glass tank filled with tap water with diluted milk or seawater and containing targets of arbitrary polarimetric responses. We found that target estimation obtained by imaging with two orthogonal polarization states always improves detection performances when correlation is used as detection criterion. This experimentally study illustrates the potential of polarization imaging for underwater target detection and opens interesting perspectives for the development of underwater imaging systems.

An experimental Mueller matrix polarimeter is used to quantify human liver fibrosis by measuring retardance and depolarization of thin biopsies. The former parameter is sensitive to fibrillar collagen, the latter is specifically sensitive to fibrillar collagen around blood vessels, which is not significant for liver fibrosis diagnosis. By using depolarization like a filter, retardance distribution enables distinguishing between disease stages and limits the high degree of observer discrepancy.

A full Mueller polarimeter was implemented on a commercial laser-scanning microscope. The new polarimetric microscope is based on high-speed polarization modulation by spectral coding using a wavelength-swept laser as a source. Calibration as well as estimation of the measurement errors of the device are reported. The acquisition of Mueller images at the speed of a scanning microscope is demonstrated for the first time. Mueller images of mineral and biological samples illustrate this new polarimetric microscopy.

Systematic errors specific to a snapshot Mueller matrix polarimeter are studied. Their origins and effects are highlighted, and solutions for correction and stabilization are proposed. The different effects induced by them are evidenced by experimental results acquired with a given setup and theoretical simulations carried out for more general cases. We distinguish the errors linked to some imperfection of elements in the experimental setup from those linked to the sample under study.

The security of our recently proposed dual polarization encryption scheme of images is evaluated by numerical simulations. This consists of testing the resistance of the scheme against brute force, known-plaintext, chosen-plaintext and video sequence attacks. While some attacks are ineffective (brute force, video sequence) others are effective (known-plaintext, chosen-plaintext), but only under certain assumptions. An optimization of the setup, which is based on a regular rotation of polarization optics angles (polarizers, wave plates), is proposed associating the use of a high dynamic range for the key image, or the use of a phase-only spatial light modulator in the target and in the key image channel. The possibility of the attacker decrypting an unknown image is thus strongly reduced. The precision required for optical specifications is also evaluated, in order to ensure a good decryption for an authorized user.

Polarization-resolved second harmonic generation (P-SHG) microscopy is able to probe the sub-micrometer structural organization of myosin filaments within skeletal muscle. In this study, P-SHG microscopy was used to analyze the structural consequences of sepsis, which is the main cause of the critical illness polyneuromyopathy (CIPNM). Experiments conducted on two populations of rats demonstrated a significant difference of the anisotropy parameter between healthy and septic groups, indicating that P-SHG microscopy is promising for the diagnosis of CIPNM. The difference, which can be attributed to a change of myosin conformation at the sub-sarcomere scale, cannot be evidenced by classical SHG imaging.

A new setup is proposed to perform high-speed Mueller polarimetry by spectral coding of polarization in a reflection configuration. The system uses a swept laser source and a photodiode, which results in a simple optical setup that allows measurement of Mueller matrices at 100 kHz repetition rate. A special focus is made on the influence of the cube beam splitter polarimetric response, which is essential to measurements in a reflection configuration. The instrument is first validated on reference samples for single-point measurements, and the effect of a proper system calibration is also demonstrated on polarimetric images. The device is intended to be implemented within a laser scanning microscope to perform multimodal imaging (confocal/multiphoton and Mueller polarimetry).