Optimum linear combination strategy for an N-channel polarization-sensitive imaging or vision system

The optimum linear combination channels for an N-receptor polarization-sensitive imaging or vision system are found by using a principal-components analysis. The channels that are derived are optimum in the sense that their information contents are uncorrelated when considered over the ensemble of possible polarization signals. For a two-receptor system, the optimum channels are shown to be the sum and the difference of the outputs of the individual receptors. As a corollary, the optimal arrangement of the two receptors is shown to be a mosaic of identical, orthogonally aligned linear polarization analyzers. The implications of these results on the development of a representational scheme for polarization information are discussed. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.