ABSTRACT
Mathematical development to better understand and describe the information contained in the Mueller matrix is given in this chapter. The experimental Mueller matrix can be a complicated function of polarization, depolarization, and noise. How do we separate the specific information we are interested in, for example, depolarization or retardance, from the measured Mueller matrix? When does an experimental matrix represent a physically realizable polarization element and when does it not? If it does not represent a physically realizable polarization element, how do we extract that information that will tell us about the equivalent physically realizable element? These are some of the questions we attempt to answer in this chapter.
