Development of polarization-sensitive imaging detectors based on organic nanostructured coatings

Imaging polarimetry is an essential diagnostic tool in astronomy and solar physics. Standard instruments, other than being generally expensive, complex and/or with moving parts (all of which are problematic features for space applications), provide measurements of the components of the polarized light sampled at different points of time and/ or space (depending on the scheme adopted), thus introducing artefacts difficult to eliminate, especially when the subjects are moving or the illumination is variable.