Characterization of homogenous depolarizing media based on Mueller matrix differential decomposition.

In a depolarizing medium in which the optical properties are uniformly distributed, the logarithm of the Mueller matrix can be used to calculate the differential Mueller matrix. From the differential Mueller matrix, the 10 optical properties of a homogeneous depolarizing medium are recovered. A modified calculation is introduced for media showing small time-irreversal depolarization events. The benefits of this method are illustrated in the determination of circular dichroism and circular birefringence of a nickel sulfate hexahydrate crystal from spectroscopic Mueller matrix measurements.