Abstract:Polarization imaging can enhance the detection of underwater targets, but the traditional method requires mechanical rotation of the optical polarization analyzer to realize underwater detection, which limits its real-time performance. In this paper, an underwater real-time imaging system was designed by using a camera based on pixelated micropolarizer array. The system captures the four-directional polarized image at one time through the four-directional polarizer so as to estimate the polarization angle and polarization degree of the background stray light globally. Then the stray light intensity can be estimated by using the polarization information, and finally the de-scattered target enhanced image is obtained. The experimental results show that applying the micropolarizer array to underwater imaging can effectively enhance the contrast of underwater images, and the imaging process is fast and real-time,thus the detection efficiency of underwater targets is further improved.