Rethinking of Underwater Image Restoration Based on Circularly Polarized Light

Polarimetric imaging technology plays a crucial role in de-scattering, particularly in the field of underwater image restoration. Circularly polarized light (or the underlying circular polarization memory effect) has been proven to better preserve the polarization characteristics of detected light. Utilizing circularly polarized light as illumination can further enhance the effectiveness of polarization de-scattering techniques. After rethinking the advantages of circularly polarized light, this paper proposes a new method for underwater polarimetric imaging restoration that leverages the pre-processing of polarized sub-images and the correlation of polarization characteristics (i.e., the angle of polarization and degree of polarization). Additionally, to address the challenge of selecting scattering light parameters due to uneven light fields in target scenes, an intensity adjustment factor search algorithm is designed. This algorithm eliminates the need for the manual selection of scattering light parameters, effectively solving the problem of uneven illumination in restoration results. A series of experiments demonstrate that, compared to traditional algorithms, the proposed method offers superior detail restoration and higher robustness.