Retrieval of a nondepolarizing estimate from an experimental Mueller matrix through virtual experiment.

The manuscript proposes a novel virtual experiment nondepolarizing estimate, as an alternative to the Cloude sum decomposition estimate, to be used in the extraction of the elementary polarization properties of a medium from its experimentally determined Mueller matrix. The estimate results from the minimization of a least squares estimator based on the light intensities virtually produced by the experimental Mueller matrix. The retrieval procedure and the properties of the estimate are described and compared to those of the Cloude estimate on an experimental Mueller matrix from the literature.