Some necessary conditions on Mueller matrices

We address the issue of physical realizability constraints on depolarizing scattering or imaging systems. In particular, the overpolarization problem, that is the problem of ensuring that the output degree of polarization is always smaller than (or equal to) unity, is discussed in detail. We derive a set of necessary conditions on the elements of a Mueller matrix. These conditions can be used to test the accuracy of polarimetric measurements and computations. Numerical examples are given.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.