Sy. Lu et Ra. Chipman, INTERPRETATION OF MUELLER MATRICES BASED ON POLAR DECOMPOSITION, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science,and vision., 13(5), 1996, pp. 1106-1113
We present an algorithm that decomposes a Mueller matrix into a sequen
ce of three matrix factors: a diattenuator, followed by a retarder, th
en followed by a depolarizer. Those factors are unique except for sing
ular Mueller matrices. Based on this decomposition, the diattenuation
and the retardance of a Mueller matrix can be defined and computed. Th
us this algorithm is useful for performing data reduction upon experim
entally determined Mueller matrices. (C) 1996 Optical Society of Ameri
ca