Compact LWIR Polarimeter for Cirrus Ice Properties

Abstract: A miniaturized long-wave InfraRed (LWIR) spectro-polarimeter is being developed as a prototype for the Compact Submm-Wave and LWIR Polarimeters (SWIRP) project. The polarimeter in development is a compact (20x20x40 cm) conical-scan instrument to measure the polarimetric radiation from ice cloud scattering at mm-submm (220 and 680 GHz) and IR (8.6, 11, and 12 m) bands. The LWIR polarimeter will provide a series of polarization measurements across the 8.5 – 12.5 micron band, measuring the full …