Open AccessExperimental validation of the symmetric decomposition of Mueller matrices
Author(s) -
Clément Fallet,
Angelo Pierangelo,
Razvigor Ossikovski,
A. De Martino
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.000831
Subject(s) - mueller calculus , optics , degenerate energy levels , diagonal , eigenvalues and eigenvectors , polarization (electrochemistry) , refractive index , physics , retarder , mathematics , polarimetry , materials science , quantum mechanics , chemistry , geometry , scattering , composite material
We experimentally assess the validity of the symmetric decomposition of Mueller matrices [R. Ossikovski, J. Opt. Soc. Am A 26, 1109-1118 (2009)] into a sequence of five factors consisting of a diagonal depolarizer between two retarder and diattenuator pairs. The raw data were Mueller images of combinations of polarization components which were individually measured and then assembled in different combinations. The possibility to recover all the elements is discussed, including the experimentally relevant cases of "degenerate" depolarizers, with two equal eigenvalues, which were not explicitly considered in the general theory.