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We propose a space benchmark sensor with onboard SI (Syst&egrave, me International) traceability by means of quantum optical radiometry. Correlated photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in nonlinear crystals are used to calibrate the absolute responsivity of a solar observing radiometer. The calibration is systematic, insensitive to degradation and independent of external radiometric standards. Solar spectral irradiance at 380&ndash, 2500 nm is traceable to the photon rate and Planck&rsquo, s constant with an expected uncertainty of about 0.35%. The principle of SPDC calibration and a prototype design of the solar radiometer are introduced. The uncertainty budget is analyzed in consideration of errors arising from calibration and observation modes.

In order to satisfy the requirements of pre-launch laboratory calibration with high accuracy for polarization remote sensor, an innovative high precision polarimetric calibration instrument with adjustable degree of linear polarization (DoLP) in a wide dynamic range called adjustable polarization light source (APOLS) has been developed. APOLS consists of a collimated light source (CLS) and a polarization state adjuster (PSA). The PSA contains four parallel K9 glass plates, which can be orientated from 0° to 65° accurately controlled by electromechanical driving mechanism whose rotation accuracy is better than ±5″. Regarding the DoLP of APOLS, its adjustment range is from 0 to 0.72 within the spectral range from 460 to 2000 nm. The theoretical model of APOLS was established to describe the DoLP produced by multiple refraction of transmitted light. Meanwhile, the major systematic factors contributing to the DoLP uncertainty such as refractive index and absorption of K9 glass, incident angle, instability and parallelism of light source were analyzed. By using the spectro-polarimetric analyzer (SPOLA), the uncertainty evaluation experiments of APOLS were carried out. The results showed that when the DoLP value was in the range of 0.26 to 0.72, the uncertainty was less than 0.5%, and when the DoLP value was in the range of 0.003 to 0.26, the uncertainty was in the range of 8.5993% to 0.5534%. Moreover, the uncertainty was in the range of 0.0027% to 0.0032% when the uncertainty of the CLS was not considered. The consistency evaluation between APOLS and SPOLA ranged from -0.36 to 0.6 indicates the experimental results are satisfying. It can be concluded that the APOLS significantly improved the dynamic range and accuracy of the polarimetric calibration instrument.

Polarization observation of sky radiation is the frontier approach to improve the remote sensing of atmospheric components, e.g., aerosol and clouds. The polarization calibration of the ground-based Sun-sky radiometer is the basis for obtaining accurate degree of linear polarization (DOLP) measurement. In this paper, a DOLP calibration method based on a laboratory polarized light source (POLBOX) is introduced in detail. Combined with the CE318-DP Sun-sky polarized radiometer, a calibration scheme for DOLP measurement is established for the spectral range of 440–1640 nm. Based on the calibration results of the Sun-sky radiometer observation network, the polarization calibration coefficient and the DOLP calibration residual are a nalyzed statistically. The results show that the DOLP residual of the calibration scheme is about 0.0012, and thus it can be estimated that the final DOLP calibration accuracy of this method is about 0.005. Finally, it is verified that the accuracy of the calibration results is in accordance with the expected results by comparing the simulated DOLP with the vector radiative transfer calculations.

We have developed a method to design and calibrate the high-precision variable polarization light source (VPOLS) with an accuracy better than 0.0013. According to the design model, a novel technique for the calibration of the VPOLS based on the autocollimator and the optical auxiliary apparatus was presented and discussed; moreover, the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) comparison tests of the VPOLS compared with Spectro-polarimetric Analyzer (SPOLA) have been carried out. Experimental results show good consistency between the numerical calculated DOLP values of the VPOLS and the measured values of the SPOLA.