Hyperspectropolarimetric microscope based on channeled polarimetry

We describe the principles and the demonstrative experiments of two-types of spectrally and spatially resolved polarimetric microscopes based on channeled polarimetry. In each system, a channeled spectroscopic polarization state generator, consisting of a polarizer and two high-order retarders, is introduced in the illumination optics so that the polarimetric information of the microscopic sample is modulated to the hyper spectrum. The pushbroom- or wavelength-scanning approaches are used in the respective systems to acquire the hyper spectrum. Fourier analysis of the obtained hyper spectrum allows us to demodulate the spectrally and spatially resolved polarimetric parameters of the sample. They have features that only the pushbroom- or wavelength-scanning is required for the hyper-spectral polarimetric imaging. The feasibility of the present principles was demonstrated experimentally in the visible spectral range.