title: Off-diagonal Mueller matrix elements in backscattering from highly diffusive media.
abstract: Measurements of a reduced Mueller matrix in backscattering from highly diffusive, dielectric samples are reported as a function of the angle of incidence. It was found that the off-diagonal terms depend greatly on the angle of incidence, increasing to a maximum near grazing incidence. We show that, despite a significant scattering originating in the bulk of such diffusive media, the nontrivial behavior of the off-diagonal Muller matrix is primarily due to surface scattering phenomena. The experimental data can be simply explained by assuming a random orientation of small particles and considering only double scattering in the plane of the surface.
authors.affiliation: The School of Optics/CREOL, University of Central Florida, Orlando 32816, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caillard
authors.forename: Aristide
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dogariu