Gompf Bruno, Gill Maximilian, Dressel Martin, Berrier Audrey
J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 2018 Feb 1;35(2):301-308. doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.35.000301.
We describe a general method to disclose the information hidden in Mueller matrices experimentally obtained from depolarizing samples. Although spectroscopic Mueller-matrix ellipsometry allows for a model-free characterization of inhomogeneous samples, i.e., independently from any assumption on the sample structure, the interpretation of the obtained results is often challenging. The proposed method combines three different decomposition techniques applied to the measured Mueller matrices in transmission and reflection of granular thin films with different thicknesses and densities. We demonstrate that the comparative analysis of the respective differential-, product-, and sum-decomposition of the Mueller matrices, together with correlation effects and the visualization as a Poincaré sphere, reveals the particular underlying physical processes of depolarization. As an example, we apply this method on granular BaSO thin films. This method is general and can be applied to a wide variety of intrinsically inhomogeneous materials with applications in physics, industry, biology, or medicine.
我们描述了一种通用方法，用于揭示从去极化样品实验获得的穆勒矩阵中隐藏的信息。尽管光谱穆勒矩阵椭偏测量法允许对非均匀样品进行无模型表征，即独立于对样品结构的任何假设，但对所得结果的解释往往具有挑战性。所提出的方法结合了三种不同的分解技术，这些技术应用于测量不同厚度和密度的颗粒薄膜在透射和反射中的穆勒矩阵。我们证明，对穆勒矩阵各自的微分、乘积和和分解进行比较分析，以及相关效应和作为庞加莱球的可视化，揭示了去极化的特定潜在物理过程。例如，我们将此方法应用于颗粒状硫酸钡薄膜。该方法具有通用性，可应用于各种本质上不均匀的材料，在物理、工业、生物学或医学领域都有应用。
