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Polarized Light in Computer Vision

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Computer Vision

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Related Concepts

Fresnel Equations; Polarization; Polarizer; Transparent Layers

Definition

Polarization refers to the orientation distribution of the electromagnetic waves that constitute light rays. The phenomenon of light polarization has been exploited in computer vision for a range of applications including surface reconstruction, specular/diffuse separation, and image enhancement.

Background

Light consists of orthogonal electric and magnetic fields. Most natural light is unpolarized and so consists of randomly fluctuating field directions. However, a range of natural phenomena (e.g., scattering and reflection) and human inventions (e.g., polarizing filters and liquid crystal displays) cause the light to become polarized. That is, the electric and magnetic fields become confined to specific planes or get constrained in other ways. In the field of computer vision, both natural and artificially generated polarized light has been utilized for a range of applications including...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Machine Vision Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Gary A. Atkinson

Authors
  1. Gary A. Atkinson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsushi Ikeuchi

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Atkinson, G.A. (2014). Polarized Light in Computer Vision. In: Ikeuchi, K. (eds) Computer Vision. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31439-6_571

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