Fully polarimetric measurements of brightness temperature distributions with a quasi-optical radiometer system at 90 GHz

The thermal microwave radiation of our natural and man-made environment contains many objects with fully polarimetric information. Based on this assumption a quasi-optical imaging radiometer system was designed and realized for the determination of the complete Stokes vector. To demonstrate the system performance, the beam quality was verified by measurements and a polarimetric calibration procedure was developed. Measurements on selected objects have been carried out to demonstrate the polarimetric effects primarily of the third and fourth component of the Stokes vector. The measured results indicate new possible applications for remote sensing and material testing.