Abstract

We present a novel depolarization metric for Mueller matrices based on the differential Mueller formalism. The proposed metric relies on the statistical interpretation of the differential Mueller matrix. We show that the differential depolarization index successfully quantifies depolarization even when applied to specific types of Mueller matrices for which some widely used depolarization metrics yield erroneous results. Moreover, the fact that the presented metric is directly linked to the variances and covariances of the elementary anisotropic properties of the sample makes it a valuable tool to quantify depolarization on a physically meaningful basis.

© 2015 Optical Society of America

Spatial evolution of depolarization in homogeneous turbid media within the differential Mueller matrix formalism

Naman Agarwal, Jiho Yoon, Enric Garcia-Caurel, Tatiana Novikova, Jean-Charles Vanel, Angelo Pierangelo, Alexander Bykov, Alexey Popov, Igor Meglinski, and Razvigor Ossikovski
Opt. Lett. 40(23) 5634-5637 (2015)

Statistical meaning of the differential Mueller matrix of depolarizing homogeneous media

Razvigor Ossikovski and Oriol Arteaga
Opt. Lett. 39(15) 4470-4473 (2014)

Integral decomposition and polarization properties of depolarizing Mueller matrices

Razvigor Ossikovski and Oriol Arteaga
Opt. Lett. 40(6) 954-957 (2015)

Differential Mueller matrix of a depolarizing homogeneous medium and its relation to the Mueller matrix logarithm

Razvigor Ossikovski and Antonello De Martino
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 32(2) 343-348 (2015)

Eigenvalue-based depolarization metric spaces for Mueller matrices

Razvigor Ossikovski and Jérémy Vizet
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 36(7) 1173-1186 (2019)