The Opposition Effect and Negative Polarization of Structural Analogs for Planetary Regoliths

To better understand the negative polarization and brightness opposition effects observed on airless celestial bodies, we carried out simultaneous photometric and polarimetric measurements of laboratory samples that simulate the structure of planetary regoliths. Computer modeling of shadow-hiding and coherent backscatter in regolith-like media are also presented. The laboratory investigations were carried out with a photometer/polarimeter at phase angles covering 0.2°–4° and wavelengths of 0.63 and 0.45 μm. We studied samples that characterize a variety of microscopic structures and albedos. A particle-size dependence of the negative branch of polarization for powdered dielectric surfaces was found. Colored samples such as a powder Fe2O3 exhibit a very prominent wavelength dependence of the photometric and polarimetric opposition phenomena. Metallic powders usually exhibit a wide branch of the negative polarization independent of the size of particles. For fine dielectric powders, both opposition phenomena become more prominent when the samples were compressed. Our computer modeling based on ray tracing in particulate media shows that shadow-hiding affects the negative polarization only in combination with the coherent backscatter enhancement. Modeling reveals that scattering orders higher than second contribute to negative polarization even in dark particulate surfaces. Our model qualitatively reproduces the effects of varying sample-compression that we observed in the laboratory. Our experimental and computer modeling studies mutually confirm that the degree of polarization for highly reflective dielectric surfaces depends not only on phase angle but also on surface tilt. Even at exactly zero phase the degree of polarization for tilted surfaces can be nonzero. A tilt of the surface normal to the scattering plane gives a parallel shift of the negative polarization branch to large values of |P|. The tilt in the perpendicular plane gives the same shift in the direction of positive polarization. At exactly zero phase angle, a celestial body of irregular shape can exhibit nonzero polarization even in integral polarimetric observations.