Improved microgrid arrangement for integrated imaging polarimeters

For almost 20 years, microgrid polarimetric imaging systems have been built using a 2×2 repeating pattern of polarization analyzers. In this Letter, we show that superior spatial resolution is achieved over this 2×2 case when the analyzers are arranged in a 2×4 repeating pattern. This unconventional result, in which a more distributed sampling pattern results in finer spatial resolution, is also achieved without affecting the conditioning of the polarimetric data-reduction matrix. Proof is provided theoretically and through Stokes image reconstruction of synthesized data.