Imaging Lunar Polarization with Sony PolarSens IMX250MZR : A Monochrome CMOS Sensor with Polarization Filter Array (PFA)
Lingga Hanum (a*), Dhani Herdiwidjaya (a), Firshanda Alvyanita (a), Santana Despon Solina (a)

a) Astronomy Research Division, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
*Lhanum.journey[at]gmail.com

Abstract

Polarization is a physical phenomenon that describes the orientation of the oscillating electric field in a light wave. One common type of polarization is linear polarization, which occurs when the electric field oscillates within a fixed plane along the direction of propagation. In astronomy, polarization observations are crucial for revealing the physical properties and surface composition of celestial objects, including the Moon. This study employs a monochrome Sony PolarSens CMOS detector based on a Polarization Filter Array (PFA), specifically the IMX250MZR sensor (2448 x 2048 pixels). This sensor simultaneously records polarization intensity at four angular orientations 0, 45, 90, and 135 degrees. The detector is integrated with a The Imaging Source DZK-33UX250 camera and a Celestron 11 f/2.2 Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA 11) V2 telescope, without additional filters. Polarimetric observations targeting the Moon were conducted at phase angles of -109.6, -87.54, -76.8, and 54.4 degrees. Raw images were processed via demosaicing using a weighted bilinear interpolation method. The separated polarization intensities at each angle were used to calculate the Stokes parameters (I, Q, U), which then generated images of the Angle of Linear Polarization (AoLP) and the Degree of Linear Polarization (DoLP). The systems performance confirms its potential for future lunar polarimetry studies aimed at characterizing regolith particle properties.

Keywords: AoLP, DoLP, Moon, Polarsens, Polarization

Topic: Planetary Science