Q(M) and the depolarization index scalar metrics

Abstract

A depolarization scalar metric for Mueller matrices, named QðMÞ, is derived from the degree of polarization. QðMÞ has been recently reported, and it has been deduced from the nine bilinear constraints between the sixteen elements of the Mueller-Jones matrix. We discuss the relations between QðMÞ and the depolarization index.

A simple depolarization criterion for light

“…where Q (M) = 0 for a totally depolarizing optical system; 0 < Q (M) < 1 for a partially depolarizing optical system; if 1 ≤ Q (M) < 3 and 0 < DI(M) < 1 the system partially depolarizes also, but if DI(M) = 1, it is a non-depolarizing diattenuating optical system; and Q (M) = 3 for a non-depolarizing non-diattenuating optical system, respectively [8,9].…”

Dealing depolarization of light in Mueller matrices with scalar metrics

“…The concept of depolarization and the metrics to measure it have deserved a lot of interest over the last years [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In this work, the term depolarization refers to the loss in the degree of polarization after an incident polarized beam of light emerges from an optical system.…”

“…The physical interpretation associated to the bounding limits for both metrics, DI(M) and DoP(M,S), are the following: 0 corresponds to a totally depolarizing system, 1 to a non-depolarizing system, and intermediate values correspond to a partially depolarizing system. A recently reported metric, named Q(M), has bounds associated which allows to identify a Mueller matrix as totally depolarizing, partially depolarizing, non-depolarizing diattenuating, and non-depolarizing non-diattenuating, respectively [7,8].…”

Physically meaningful depolarization metric based on the differential Mueller matrix

“…Lorentz depolarization indices were introduced to overcome the limitations of the previous metrics to quantify the depolarizing characteristics of a specific type of Mueller matrices [26]. Additionally, other parameters like the average degree of polarization [27] or the Q metric [28] can bring complementary information about depolarization. These metrics constitute useful tools for the study of depolarizing media, remarkably providing an objective way of comparing the depolarization introduced by different samples.…”