Event Ellipsometer: Event-based Mueller-Matrix Video Imaging

Ryota Maeda, Yunseong Moon, Seung-Hwan Baek; Proceedings of the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR), 2025, pp. 21804-21813

Light-matter interactions modify both the intensity and polarization state of light. Changes in polarization, represented by a Mueller matrix, encode detailed scene information. Existing optical ellipsometers capture Mueller-matrix images; however, they are often limited to static scenes due to long acquisition times. Here, we introduce Event Ellipsometer, a method for acquiring Mueller-matrix images of dynamic scenes. Our imaging system employs fast-rotating quarter-wave plates (QWPs) in front of a light source and an event camera that asynchronously captures intensity changes induced by the rotating QWPs. We develop an ellipsometric-event image formation model, a calibration method, and an ellipsometric-event reconstruction method. We experimentally demonstrate that Event Ellipsometer enables Mueller-matrix imaging at 30fps, extending ellipsometry to dynamic scenes.