Imaging trace gas concentrations with a compact snapshot device that converts their spectral features into a polarization signal

While the concentrations of trace gases in Earth’s atmosphere were roughly constant for thousands of years, human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels have caused significant changes ever since the industrial revolution. The remote sensing of trace gases has proved to be a useful technique for mapping and monitoring on the global scale...

The Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration - SPEX

SPEX (Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration) is an innovative, compact remotesensing instrument for measuring and characterizing aerosols in the atmosphere. The shoebox size instrument is capable of accurate full linear spectropolarimetry without moving parts or liquid crystals. High precision polarimetry is performed through encoding the...

Use of neural networks in ground-based aerosol retrievals from multi-angle spectropolarimetric observations

In this paper, the use of a neural network algorithm for the retrieval of the aerosol properties from ground-based spectropolarimetric measurements is discussed. The neural network is able to retrieve the aerosol properties with an accuracy that is almost comparable to that of an iterative retrieval. By using the outcome of the neural network as...

Prototyping for the Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration (SPEX): calibration and sky measurements

We present the Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration (SPEX), a high-accuracy linear spectropolarimeter measuring from 400 to 800 nm (with 2 nm intensity resolution), that is compact (~ 1 liter), robust and lightweight. This is achieved by employing the unconventional spectral polarization modulation technique, optimized for linear...

Spectropolarimeter for planetary exploration (SPEX): performance measurements with a prototype

SPEX (Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration) was developed in close cooperation between scientific institutes and space technological industries in the Netherlands. It is used for measuring microphysical properties of aerosols and cloud particles in planetary atmospheres. SPEX utilizes a number of novel ideas. The key feature is that full...

SPEX: The Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration

We present SPEX, the Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration, which is a compact, robust and low-mass spectropolarimeter designed to operate from an orbiting or in situ platform. Its purpose is to simultaneously measure the radiance and the state (degree and angle) of linear polarization of sunlight that has been scattered in a planetary...

SPEX: the SPectropolarimeter for planetary EXploration

SPEX (Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration) is an innovative, compact instrument for spectropolarimetry, and in particular for detecting and characterizing aerosols in planetary atmospheres. With its ∼1-liter volume it is capable of full linear spectropolarimetry, without moving parts. The degree and angle of linear polarization of the...

SPEX: An in-orbit spectropolarimeter for planetary exploration

SPEX (Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration) is an innovative, compact remote-sensing instrument for detecting and characterizing aerosols. With its 1-liter volume it is capable of full linear spectropolarimetry, without moving parts. High precision polarimetry is performed through encoding the degree and angle of linear polarization of...