Li Pengcheng, Tariq Aziz, He Honghui, Ma Hui
Opt Lett. 2020 Feb 1;45(3):706-709. doi: 10.1364/OL.375543.
Mueller polarimetry is a powerful optical technique in the analysis of micro-structural properties of optical samples. However, there is no explicit relationship between individual Mueller matrix elements and the physical properties of the sample. Several matrix decomposition algorithms corresponding to specific optical models have been proposed, which extract the physical information from measured Mueller matrices. Nevertheless, we still need a prior assessment method to decide which model is more suitable for the experimental data. In this Letter, we propose a set of characteristic Mueller matrices that allows us to obtain information about the breaking of rotation, mirror, and reciprocal symmetry properties in the sample by direct inspection of several elements of the Mueller matrix. By further analyzing the possible origin of symmetry breaking, we can learn the type and mixing status of anisotropies in the measured sample. We have verified our theory with Monte Carlo simulations of polarized light scattering in an isotropic or anisotropic medium containing different configurations of spherical and cylindrical scatterers. This study may help experimenters choose more suitable Mueller matrix decomposition methods.
穆勒偏振测量法是一种用于分析光学样品微观结构特性的强大光学技术。然而，穆勒矩阵的各个元素与样品的物理特性之间并没有明确的关系。已经提出了几种对应于特定光学模型的矩阵分解算法，这些算法从测量得到的穆勒矩阵中提取物理信息。尽管如此，我们仍然需要一种先验评估方法来确定哪种模型更适合实验数据。在本信函中，我们提出了一组特征穆勒矩阵，通过直接检查穆勒矩阵的几个元素，我们能够获得有关样品中旋转、镜像和互易对称性破缺特性的信息。通过进一步分析对称性破缺的可能来源，我们可以了解被测样品中各向异性的类型和混合状态。我们通过对包含不同球形和圆柱形散射体配置的各向同性或各向异性介质中的偏振光散射进行蒙特卡罗模拟，验证了我们的理论。这项研究可能有助于实验人员选择更合适的穆勒矩阵分解方法。
