Dataset Information

Demonstrating Basic Properties and Application of Polarimetry Using a Self-Constructed Polarimeter.

ABSTRACT: An easily constructed and inexpensive polarimeter with an optical rotation angle resolution of about 0.5° is presented. It is made from small pieces of polarizing film, 2 LEDs, a protractor, and a few wires, all held in place with plastic interlocking toy bricks, such as Lego bricks. The instrument was used to demonstrate the optical rotation of plane polarized light as a function of concentration, path length, temperature, and wavelength, and to determine enantiomeric excess in solutions of arabinose, the amount of limonene in citrus ski wax remover, and optical rotations of various types of honeys and essential oils. Results were comparable to values obtained on a commercial scientific instrument, and with literature values.

SUBMITTER: Kvittingen L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7467646 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Demonstrating Basic Properties and Application of Polarimetry Using a Self-Constructed Polarimeter.

Kvittingen Lise L Sjursnes Birte Johanne BJ

Journal of chemical education 20200630 8

An easily constructed and inexpensive polarimeter with an optical rotation angle resolution of about 0.5° is presented. It is made from small pieces of polarizing film, 2 LEDs, a protractor, and a few wires, all held in place with plastic interlocking toy bricks, such as Lego bricks. The instrument was used to demonstrate the optical rotation of plane polarized light as a function of concentration, path length, temperature, and wavelength, and to determine enantiomeric excess in solutions of ara ...[more]

PMID: 32905174

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Project description:In early 2013, three airborne polarimeters were flown on the high altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft in California for the Polarimeter Definition Experiment (PODEX). PODEX supported the pre-formulation NASA Aerosol-Cloud-Ecosystem (ACE) mission, which calls for an imaging polarimeter in polar orbit (among other instruments) for the remote sensing of aerosols, oceans, and clouds. Several polarimeter concepts exist as airborne prototypes, some of which were deployed during PODEX as a capabilities test. Two of those instruments to date have successfully produced Level 1 (georegistered, calibrated radiance and polarization) data from that campaign: the Airborne Multiangle Spectropolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) and the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). We compared georegistered observations of a variety of scene types by these instruments to test whether Level 1 products agreed within stated uncertainties. Initial comparisons found radiometric agreement, but polarimetric biases beyond measurement uncertainties. After subsequent updates to calibration, georegistration, and the measurement uncertainty models, observations from the instruments now largely agree within stated uncertainties. However, the 470 nm reflectance channels have a roughly +6% bias of AirMSPI relative to RSP, beyond expected measurement uncertainties. We also find that observations of dark (ocean) scenes, where polarimetric uncertainty is expected to be largest, do not agree within stated polarimetric uncertainties. Otherwise, AirMSPI and RSP observations are consistent within measurement uncertainty expectations, providing credibility for the subsequent creation of Level 2 (geophysical product) data from these instruments, and comparison thereof. The techniques used in this work can also form a methodological basis for other intercomparisons, for example, of the data gathered during the recent Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) field campaign, carried out in October and November of 2017 with four polarimeters (including AirMSPI and RSP).

Dataset Information

Demonstrating Basic Properties and Application of Polarimetry Using a Self-Constructed Polarimeter.

Publications

Demonstrating Basic Properties and Application of Polarimetry Using a Self-Constructed Polarimeter.

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