Polarization-Dependent Angular Memory Effect in Scattering Media: Mechanism and Field-of-View of Imaging Limit

The angular memory effect (AME) of scattering media is a prominent mechanism for imaging through turbid media. However, depolarization of light during propagation reduces both the AME range (AMER) and the speckle contrast, thereby constraining imaging performance. This study systematically investigated the polarization-dependent characteristics of the AME and its implications for the effective imaging field-of-view (FOV). First, for a layered scattering medium such as milk and chicken egg membranes with horizontal polarization incident light, the scattered photons with horizontal polarization hold larger AMER than that of the vertical ones, up to 54.1% higher in three layered milk. Moreover, the horizontal-polarized speckle pattern exhibits higher contrast relative to the full polarization state, which contributes to the improved quality of the reconstructed image. The image reconstruction experiments further validate that, owing to the two advantages, the horizontal-polarized scattered photons enable larger FOV recovery (about 2.9 times that of the vertical-polarized photons for a three-layer milk medium). This research reveals the polarization-resolved scattering process and the polarization-dependent AME in scattering media, which provide a practical approach to expanding the imaging FOV.