# A Lensless Polarization Camera

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.17156 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.17156/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 21 of its 68 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 21 of 21)

- [Deep Image Prior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.10925/) (2017)
- [Deep Learning Techniques for Inverse Problems in Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.06001/) (2020)
- [On instabilities of deep learning in image reconstruction - Does AI come at a cost?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.05300/) (2019)
- [Deep Polarization Imaging for 3D shape and SVBRDF Acquisition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.02875/) (2021)
- [DiffuserCam: Lensless Single-exposure 3D Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.02134/) (2017)
- [Lensless computational imaging through deep learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.08516/) (2017)
- [Learned reconstructions for practical mask-based lensless imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.11502/) (2019)
- [FlatNet: Towards Photorealistic Scene Reconstruction from Lensless Measurements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.15440/) (2020)
- [Spectral DiffuserCam: lensless snapshot hyperspectral imaging with a spectral filter array](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.08565/) (2020)
- [Miniscope3D: optimized single-shot miniature 3D fluorescence microscopy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.05382/) (2020)
- [Monochrome and Color Polarization Demosaicking Using Edge-Aware Residual Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.14292/) (2020)
- [Video from Stills: Lensless Imaging with Rolling Shutter](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13221/) (2019)
- [Untrained networks for compressive lensless photography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.07609/) (2021)
- [PhoCoLens: Photorealistic and Consistent Reconstruction in Lensless Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.17996/) (2024)
- [PIDSR: Complementary Polarized Image Demosaicing and Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.07758/) (2025)
- [Deep Demosaicing for Polarimetric Filter Array Cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.13732/) (2022)
- [Learning to Deblur Polarized Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.18134/) (2024)
- [Towards Robust and Generalizable Lensless Imaging with Modular Learned Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01102/) (2025)
- [Lensless Photography with only an image sensor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.06619/) (2017)
- [DifuzCam: Replacing Camera Lens with a Mask and a Diffusion Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.07541/) (2024)
- [Scalable dataset acquisition for data-driven lensless imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.13334/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Polarization imaging is a technique that creates a pixel map of the polarization state in a scene. Although invisible to the human eye, polarization can assist various sensing and computer vision tasks. Existing polarization cameras use spatial or temporal multiplexing, which increases the camera volume, weight, cost, or all of the above. Recent lensless imaging approaches, such as DiffuserCam, have demonstrated that compact imaging systems can be realized by replacing the lens with a coding element and performing computational reconstruction. In this work, we propose a compact lensless polarization camera composed of a diffuser and a simple striped polarization mask. By combining this optical design with a reconstruction algorithm that explicitly models the polarization-encoded lensless measurements, four linear polarization images are recovered from a single snapshot. Our results demonstrate the potential of lensless approaches for polarization imaging and reveal the physical factors that govern reconstruction quality, guiding the development of high-quality practical systems.