Systematic error analysis of the Mueller matrix elements for optical properties of objects at measurement with polarization nephelometer

Systematic errors of the Mueller matrix elements for optical properties of objects caused by a misalignment of initial positions of waveplates principal directions and an analyzer transmission axis are considered. The examination is made for the device, in which the probing radiation polarization properties change at different installations of the first waveplate, and the polarization analysis of a scattered light is carried out using a Fourier series expansion of a signal, which one is produced by a photodetector at a rotation of the second waveplate placed before the fixed analyzer. The estimating equations of these errors arising at a separate misalignment of anisotropic optical elements in illuminating and perceiving radiation channels of the measuring device, and equations on which it is possible to judge about a correctness of these anisotropic elements setting are derived. Combined influence of different inaccuracies of anisotropic element installations is considered by the mathematical simulation method and it is compared to experimentally determined behavior of the Mueller matrix elements measurement systematic errors depending on a misalignment of initial position of the first waveplate principal directions.