title: Mueller polarimetric imaging system with liquid crystals.
abstract: We present a new polarimetric imaging system based on liquid-crystal modulators, a spectrally filtered white-light source, and a CCD camera. The whole Mueller matrix image of the sample is measured in approximately 5 s in the transmission mode. The instrument design, together with an original and easy-to-operate calibration procedure, provides high accuracy over a wide spectral range (500-700 nm). This accuracy has been assessed by measurement of a linear polarizer at different orientations and a thick wedged quartz plate as an example of a partially depolarized retarder. Polarimetric images of a stained hepatic biopsy with significant fibrosis have been taken at several wavelengths. The optical properties of Picrosirius Red stained collagen (diattenuation, retardance, and polarizance) have been measured independently from each other between 500 and 700 nm.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unite Mixte de Recherche 7647, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France. blandine.laude@polytechnique.fr
authors.forename: Blandine
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laude-Boulesteix
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Martino
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Drévillon
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014741:Video Recording / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen