CCD polarization imaging sensor with aluminum nanowire optical filters

Abstract

We report an imaging sensor capable of recording the optical properties of partially polarized light by monolithically integrating aluminum nanowire optical filters with a CCD imaging array. The imaging sensor, composed of 1000 by 1000 imaging elements with 7.4 μm pixel pitch, is covered with an array of pixel-pitch matched nanowire optical filters with four different orientations offset by 45°. The polarization imaging sensor has a signal-to-noise ratio of 45 dB and captures intensity, angle and degree of linear polarization in the visible spectrum at 40 frames per second with 300 mW of power consumption.