Scattering mechanism-based decomposition model for depolarization

Abstract As a common phenomenon caused by light-matter interactions, depolarization is a hot topic in polarized optics and statistical optics. Based on scattering mechanism, a Mueller matrix decomposition approach is proposed to detail and enrich the depolarization information of surface scattering. On the basis of the superposition of four basic scattering mechanisms, two parameters (diagonal scattering depolarization coefficient (DSDC) and cross scattering depolarization coefficient (CSDC)) are deduced to represent the effect of scattering superposition on depolarization. Further, the relationship between these two parameters and depolarization index is established to amplify the depolarization difference between different materials, making depolarization information more useful in distinguishing different materials. Through the experiments in two cases (distinguishing man-made camouflage material and natural object; distinguishing oil film on water surface), it is verified that DSDC and CSDC have excellent effect in distinguishing the depolarization of different materials. The work in this paper is promoting in the study of depolarization.