Testing smooth surface characteristics based on thermal infrared polarization

Abstract

A novel optical method was provided to test the sample surface using a thermal polarimeter. The polarimeter consists of a rotary polarization filter and a thermal imaging system that is based on an uncooled focal plane array (UFPA) in long wave infrared (LWIR, 8~12µm) band. The thermal infrared polarization images of a Vernier caliper head were taken by a rotary polarizing filter at angles of 0°, 60°, 120° degrees. These images were saved into a computer and were calculated with Stokes parameter formulas to produce digital images of Stokes parameters I, Q and U, degree of linear polarization and direction of polarization. These images clearly show the difference between different areas of Vernier caliper, and this difference is not obtainable from the intensity images. Experimental results show that the introduced method can extract surface roughness information from thermal images and can distinguish different surface characteristics quickly.